Utopia' System Aids Injured in 10 Parishes

              Wednesday, June 10, 1981
'Utopia' system aids
injured in 10 parishes
By BOBBY LAMB
Of The Times Staff
When a critically injured or ill
patient heads for a hospital in
Northwest Louisiana, information
concerning that patient and his con-dition
will likely beat him to the
emergency room.
It's all part of a communications
network spread across 10 parishes
that links ambulances to hospitals
via a system of mobile radios and
telephones. The $300,000-plus com-munications
system has been in
operation for about a month and was
formally unveiled in Bossier City
Tuesday by the Emergency Medical
Services Foundation of Northwest
Louisiana.
Dr. Rel Gray, president of EMS,
said the communications system
means "better and faster care to the
critically injured patient," though a
few bugs need ironing out yet.
Martha Wheless, an EMS board
member and director of the
American Heart Association, called
the system the "Utopia" of several
years work by EMS in cooperation
with various government bodies, or-ganizations
and individuals.
The Motorola-installed system is
the beginning of an ideal goal that
would result in on-the-scene treat-ment
of trauma patients by
paramedics receiving directions
from hospital-based physicians. "I
think they'll get there," Gray said of
the advanced life-support system,
possibly within two years. "Once
you've got that you've got the com-plete
system," Gray said.
L.S. McKenzie, program director,
said 24 emergency vehicles in the
region are equipped with 30-watt
mobile radios. Eleven base station
towers, many atop hospitals, dot
Northwest Louisiana. One in DeSoto
is not in operation but should be
working within the month.
"If you can use a telephone, you
can use this system," McKenzie said.
In an emergency an ambulance
attendant, using the ambulance-based
mobile radio, can hone in on
the nearest base station. Each sta-tion
has its own three-letter code,
usually tied to its location.
Through his radio and the base
station, the attendant can patch into
the Bell telephone system and dial
anyone, anytime, anywhere. "If it's
got a telephone, you can get to it,"
Gray said. Each base station is coded
with six preset phone numbers, three
of which include the LSU Medical
Center's emergency room, Poison
Control Center at LSU and the
Schumpert emergency room, all in
Shreveport. The other three
automatic numbers vary at each
base station and are more local.
The system has the capability for
three-way conference calls, for ex-ample,
connecting the ambulance to
the hospital to a doctor at home.
The attendant using the com-munications
network can warn a
hospital that a patient is en route and
(Times graphic)
Dots show base station locations.
relay vital information to waiting
physicians. The hospital in turn can
inform the ambulance if another
medical facility is better equipped to
handle that patient's injuries.
Base stations are at North Caddo
Hospital in Vivian, LSU Medical
Center and Schumpert in
Shreveport; Community Hospital in
Springhill; Minden Medical Center in
Webster; North Claiborne Hospital
in Haynesville; Bienville Hospital in
Arcadia; Lincoln General Hospital in
Ruston; Natchitoches Parish
Hospital; Mansfield Industrial Park
in DeSoto; and a wooded area near
Many in Sabine.
The system in Northwest
Louisiana will be linked to similar
systems in Northeast and Central
Louisiana, officials said. "It's real
important on the border areas that
you're compatible," Gray said. From
an accident scene midway between
two towns in different districts, an
ambulance attendant can determine
through the linked communications
systems which town has the needed
facility.
EMS of Northwest Louisiana was
formed in 1976 by federal mandate
to establish a regional medical
system that provides fast and im-proved
care to tJe critically injured.
Now that at least part of the mission
has been accomplished, Gray said
EMS is "lookine at a period of re-lative
inactivityt"
The goal for the organization is to
establish an advanced life-support
system in which critical patients
could receive on-the-spot medical
treatment th; t is directed by
hospital-based physicians. That
means personnel with advanced
training — intermediate level
emergency medical technicians or
paramedics --- are needed aboard
the emergence vehicles.
Gray said lit will be up to the
ambulance companies and
municipalities running ambulances
to hire advanced personnel.
"They've been going at it very slow-ly,
deliberately," Gray said. "Of
course, advanced personnel take a
lot more money," he said. Once ad-vanced
personnel are on board, EMS
can becomeactive in seeking federal
monies for support equipment.
"In the rneantime, we're turning it
(the systerm) over to the localities,"
he said.