Current member support
In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving world, first responders face a wide array of challenges when providing the fastest possible assistance during an emergency. To address this critical need, IamResponding and RapidSOS recently hosted a webinar entitled Enhancing Situational Awareness with IamResponding & RapidSOS Premium. The live session, hosted by Dan Seidberg, President of IamResponding, and Jamison Peevyhouse, VP of Public Safety at RapidSOS, dove into insights and strategies for improving situational awareness in emergency response scenarios.
Didn’t get a chance to attend live? You can watch a full on-demand recording of the session or check out our quick recap and highlights below.
The value of first responder location data to ECCs
To kick off the session, Dan and Jamison began by emphasizing the critical importance of providing emergency responders with accurate and addressable locations to ensure timely and effective responses in various emergency situations. The lack of precise location information can significantly hinder their ability to save lives in a wide variety of real life situations. The types of scenarios highlighted where location data can play a transformative role for first responders included automobile accidents, early-stage wildfires, lost or injured hikers, marine incidents, medical incidents at large schools or athletic facilities, incidents at large facilities or properties, and incidents involving individuals using mass transit who require assistance. In each of these situations, and more, addressable locations are crucial for emergency responders to swiftly navigate and provide assistance where and when it is most needed.
Enabling first responder location data with IamResponding and RapidSOS Premium
To support 911 during these sorts of emergency scenarios, IamResponding integrated with RapidSOS, an intelligent safety platform utilized by over 5,500 Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs). IamResponding’s integration with RapidSOS provides the same 911 caller location information to first responders in the field that ECCs are able to access today via RapidSOS, without requiring any additional steps by dispatchers.
This means, that when an emergency comes in, first responders can be equipped with rich-incident data including:
• 911 caller location
• Health profiles
• Vehicle telematics
• Alarm sensor information
• And more
Lives saved by first responders equipped with incident-rich data
After reviewing the integration between IamResponding and RapidSOS, Jamison and Dan shared real life examples in which lives have been saved by first responders equipped with incident-rich data.
In one example, a 911 caller experiencing a cardiac arrest on a college campus was unable to describe their location or what building they were in. In this instance, rather than being directed to the address of the college campus that appeared on 911’s CAD, first responders were able to be dispatched to the location of the 911 caller instead – helping save valuable time when every second counts.
In another example cited, a 98 year old man had fallen and hit his head before calling 911 from a large, expansive farm property consisting of multiple fields and buildings. Traditionally, without the RapidSOS and IamResponding integration, legacy CAD systems would direct first responders to the addressable location. Upon arriving at the farm, however, they would be forced to spend valuable time searching for the location of the caller across the vast property. In this instance, the location of the 911 caller appeared in both 911’s RapidSOS Portal as well as first responders’ IamResponding app – enabling increased situational awareness and decreased response times.
The difference between addressable and caller location saves lives
Throughout the discussion, Dan and Jamison reinforced the vital difference between addressable locations and caller locations. In many emergency scenarios, the physical distance between these two locations can often be significant and enabling both 911 and first responders with the most accurate location can save valuable time when it matters most.
Want to watch the full webinar? You can view an on-demand recording of Enhancing Situational Awareness with IamResponding & RapidSOS Premium, here.
