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First responders work in a high-demand industry. From dangerous working conditions, disrupted sleep schedules, and a fast-paced environment, the stress can be chronic. Technology can be leveraged to reduce the strain of day-to-day tasks. That’s where IamResponding comes in.
IamResponding is an end-to-end emergency response system for first responders, enabling them to receive information, respond, and act quickly. The IamResponding team pioneered the technology over a decade ago and has worked with first responders to fine-tune the system to meet their changing needs. Plus, with a new integration from RapidSOS, your organization can benefit from time-saving alerts and critical incident data with unrivaled reliability. It alleviates some of the most common challenges that first responders face.
Top Challenges for First Responders
Every time someone dials 911, emergency medical services, firefighters, and police officers receive information and go through the processes to take swift action. Responders get the call, intake information is gathered, the tones go off, crews are dispatched, and first responders arrive on the scene to size-up and address the situation. When these emergency response procedures aren’t streamlined, lives are on the line.
ISSUE #1: Slow response time
When a team of first responders gets a call, it’s a quick dash to get equipment and people situated. Problems can occur when each responder is unaware of who is actually taking the call and jumping into the firetruck, police vehicle, or ambulance.
With no system in place, it can take minutes off the response time — and, in the emergency world, every second counts.
ISSUE #2: Lack of situational awareness
In broad terms, situational awareness is the conscious knowledge of the immediate environment and the events that are occurring in it, according to the American Psychological Association.
In emergency response terms, situational awareness is the collection, analysis, and sharing of actionable information about a particular space or landscape. For example, knowing where fire hydrants are in relation to an emergency location and whether there is enough water to solve the problem. According to Cambridge University Press, this awareness is critical to mobilizing a rapid and efficient response to disasters of all kinds.
ISSUE #3: Scarce communication and interoperability
Another problem occurs for first responders when there is a lack of communication between both crew members and other agencies. In most circumstances, more communication is better. The same can be said about emergency response measures. Communication can break down when data is not shared and plans are mixed up, resulting in a less effective response for the people in need and unsafe conditions for first responders.
IamResponding Can Help Solve These Challenges and More
IamResponding can aid in combating these issues by enabling quick, confident, and informed decisions. By signing up for IamResponding, teams have access to features that will better prepare their crew and promote safety and best practices. Let’s dig into how IamResponding actually works and what are the benefits to first responders and the communities they serve.
Reduced response times: Know immediately about an emergency, who is responding, where they are, and when they will arrive.
When an emergency happens, teams will be notified by multiple, simultaneous methods: through text, call, email, the IamResponding app, and/or a station alert. These alerts are redundant and meant to be used as a supplement to notifications already in place.
After being notified, any team member can immediately notify the rest of the team who is responding to the call, where they are responding, and when they will arrive. The responder will be given directions to the emergency automatically and can validate the proper incident location for all emergency response departments enroute to the scene.
Unprecedented situational awareness: Have more informed response teams, with unmatched data inputs from RapidSOS.
As previously mentioned, situational awareness focuses on knowing where to go and knowing what is happening at the scene. Through data received from RapidSOS, IamResponding users will know both where dispatch is telling them to go, and where the 911 caller is located. This is important because many locations do not have a properly addressable location. As the directions generate on your device, map markers will show where each fire hydrant is and how much water is at the team’s disposal. Knowing how many fire trucks and additional responders are needed is extremely important to getting a situation under control. Having the information ahead of time helps responders focus on bringing the situation under control vs. scrambling on scene.
“We love it… it’s absolutely fantastic. IamResponding shaves several minutes off making critical decisions, and let’s face it, minutes count.”
Fire Chief Ken Morse
Responders can also access floor plans and important local data through pre-plan markers — a method of sharing information access on a wide scale. In every pre-plan marker, there is space for 10 different documents to be added. Since markers are available to all IamResponding users, teams can limit pre-plans access to certain people while still giving vital information to all first responders.
Better communication and interoperability: Experience real-time collaboration and information sharing between teams and mutual-aid agencies.
To give reassurance to both the team and the person being saved, this technology helps to see all responders’ locations in real-time so it’s clear when and where help is coming from. To communicate on a wide scale, IamResponding’s mutual aid feature allows responders to contact other departments and send mass messages.
To enhance communication within the team, the scheduling feature lets responders know who is available and who is off the clock. In case of a difficult situation, it also allows responders to attach emergency contact information for each teammate and have immediate access to any internal documents through the resources section of the app or website.
Community Driven: An ongoing partnership with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and commitment to protecting the safety of crews and communities.
For every new subscription, IamResponding contributes a percentage of the subscription fee to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to support life-safety research, initiatives designed to prevent line of duty deaths and help families who suffer after a loss.
Over 450 thousand first responders rely on IamResponding to improve response time, communications, and daily operations. Join our mission to better equip all first responders to effectively serve their communities. IamResponding can help:
- Improve incident notifications.
- Reduce response times.
- Improve emergency response turnout.
- Enhance communications.
- Simplify daily operations for first responders.
Want to see how IamResponding can help your emergency response be more effective?
Sign up for a FREE two-month trial today
