Washington County Missouri Delivers Critical Mobile Integrated Healthcare to Rural Underserved Communities

Quick Facts

Company

Washington County Ambulance
www.wcadems.org

Customer Profile

Located in the southeastern part of the US state of Missouri, Washington County Ambulance District is a leader in modern mobile healthcare services. The organization delivers EMS/911 emergency response, critical-care and non-emergency transportation and Mobile Integrated Healthcare solutions.

Objectives

Washington County Ambulance District needed to expand its Mobile Integrated Healthcare Solution to rural areas with sparse cellular coverage and patients who often do not have internet at their homes. Reliable connectivity was required to provide telehealth services including live transmission of vital signs to a physician.

Results

Partnering with Semtech and Public Safety Solutions has enabled Washington County Ambulance District to:

Deliver Mobile Integrated Healthcare to rural underserved communities that do not have cellular connectivity or internet.
Deliver healthcare to patients who cannot travel to see a doctor.
Build out Mobile Integrated Healthcare vehicles that connect with Verizon, AT&T FirstNet and Satellite telecom providers.
Effectively communicate and transmit vital signs from the field to physicians and hospitals in real time.
Monitor critical vehicle systems including refrigerators.

Semtech Products & Services

Introduction

Washington County Ambulance District is a leader in modern mobile healthcare services. In addition to their traditional EMS/911 and patient transportation services, they have begun outfitting their Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) Vehicles with advanced connectivity solutions to provide telehealth care to underserved patients in remote rural parts of their territory. Many of these patients are unable to travel to medical appointments which prohibits them from getting the healthcare that they need.

Challenge

Providing mobile healthcare services requires high-quality, high-reliability connectivity to communicate in real time with doctors and hospitals. Many parts of Washington County and neighboring Reynolds County have little or no cellular coverage and many patient homes have no internet service. In addition, the mobile teams found that they have to connect to different service providers to get cellular connectivity where it is available.

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Solution

Washington County Ambulance District installed AirLink XR90 routers as part of a connectivity solution in several testbed vehicles. The XR90 connected with Verizon and AT&T FirstNet with real-time failover between the two carriers. In addition, the vehicles were equipped with KymetaTM satellite antennas and receivers for connectivity when there was no cellular coverage. The XR90 delivers always-on connectivity no matter where the Mobile Healthcare Vehicles are located. Washington County Ambulance District plans to install XR90s in all their Mobile Integrated Healthcare vehicles. The XR90 comes with AirLink Premium support which includes AirLink Management Service (ALMS) for remote device updates and security management. AirLink Premium also includes Advanced Mobility Reporting (AMR) which enables fleet management, trip reporting and driver behavior tracking.

Benefits

Partnering with Semtech has provided many benefits for the Washington County Ambulance District:

Ability to deliver telehealth services in remote rural areas.
Connecting cardiac monitors and other patient monitoring systems directly to doctors and hospitals in real time.
Monitoring vehicle systems including refrigerator temperatures.
Enabling always-on connectivity through Verizon, AT&T FirstNet and satellite communications.
Having a seamless plug-and-play installation.
Enabling secure router updates and vehicle tracking.

Communication is extremely imperative in what we do every day. In rural areas, we don’t have the resources needed communicationwise to ensure seamless operations.

Matt Hart,
Division Chief Logistics,
Washington County Ambulance District