TX First Responders Prepare for Disasters in Regional Training Exercise

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from a news story that was originally published on kbtx.com. Check out the full story here. 

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Whenever disaster strikes, first responders are there to deal with the aftermath, which means they need to be prepared for any situation.

Last week, first responders across the region came together to strengthen their response techniques using a special platform called Pulsara.

Pulsara is a healthcare communications and logistics platform that unites teams and technologies during dynamic events.

Billy Rice, Director of EMS at St. Joseph Health Hospital, said large scale events are typically difficult to manage, but their goal is to create an actionable plan should a disaster occur.

“I was at [Hurricane] Katrina. No one knew where their family members were, people that were coordinating the emergency didn’t know where they were or what hospital they were going to,” said Rice. “Those days have really changed. We have real time, in an app, where the patient just gets an armband, and as long as they’re part of that incident, the emergency commander knows how many patients are on scene, what the conditions of the patients are, what ambulance has them, and what hospital they’re going to.”

Rice said while Tuesday’s exercise was focused on disasters, the technology can also be used for everyday emergencies as well.

“We have used Pulsara for over a year for our ambulances. But we haven’t used it for disasters with other agencies, which is good because there hasn’t been the need, but that’s when we’ll need it most,” said Rice. “Today what we’re doing is kind of an expanded table top exercise where we’re simulating over 100 patients and what it would take to move those patients and get them to the hospital,” said Rice.

Read the full article here

Learn how Pulsara can help you with incident and event management—from mass casualty incidents to hurricane evacuations, MVAs with multiple patients, to special events: pulsara.com/incident