What issues are EMS and public safety communications systems facing in the post-Sept. 11th era? While disaster preparedness clearly has center stage, this attention only highlights some of the deficiencies we have come to accept in existing EMS communications systems. Foremost questions concerning improvements to a $25 billion public safety communications infrastructure are "Who will pay for it?" and "How soon can it be accomplished?"

In a recent congressional hearing on bio-terrorism and disaster preparedness, among the topics discussed were problems with communications interoperability (inter-agency communications), weaknesses in communications system reliability, and the risks associated with publicly used, non-dedicated communications systems. It has become clear that our present systems do not have the robustness, redundancy and functional capabilities to meet disasters as well as our everyday needs and that EMS agencies that rely on cellular communications cannot be assured of communications in the event of a cellular system overload or shutdown.

At present, a hodgepodge of incompatible equipment hampers interoperability. This is an issue being addressed by the Dept, of Justice's Public Safety Wireless Network (www.pswn.gov). Whereas the European TETRA and the U.S. Project 25 radio systems (radios that have digital capability, and provide interoperability through multi-band capabilities) may provide a long-term technological solution, who will pay for this newer technology and how long will this take to accomplish remains unclear.

Though weaknesses and compromises in present day communications may not appear to affect our everyday activities, they may in fact be slowing important advances in pre-hospital care. For example, the implementation of early thrombolytic therapy continues to be hampered by difficulties in transmitting a 12-Lead report to the hospital. Considering that "telemetry" is finally evolving from sending an ECG strip to transferring multiple physiologic measurements and patient data, what other capabilities of EMS Telemedicine are we being denied? Perhaps we should Interpret the problems encountered in sending these reports as an early warning sign of system inadequacies.

One may approach the shortcomings of the existing communications infrastructure in one of three ways: 1) leave it unchanged, 2) replace it; 3) upgrade and enhance it by building "bridges" to overcome the larger obstacles and allow a gradual upgrading of the entire infrastructure. General Devices believes the third approach to be the most realistic and has worked toward providing immediate, practical solutions addressing the key issues of improved functionality, reliability, redundancy and interoperability.

The GEMS Communications Console and the NetManager Communications Matrix each provide corumunications network management/ capabilities for fully integrated voice and data systems that possess those key issues. Both provide redundancy and enhance system reliability by accommodating multiple communications means (radio, land line, cell phone, etc.), allowing the user to use the best means for a given situation. As an example of interoperability, NetManager's remote call-steering feature permits the establishment of a communications link from the field to literally anywhere in the world.

Whereas the term interoperability usually refers to frequency compatibility between radios, the inability to send digital information from an EMS field monitor over a voice-grade radio clearly extends the term's meaning. Rosetta solves this problem by "translating" the information into a format suitable for voice-grade transmission. This extends the usability of existing radio systems, allows the use of landline phones and enhances cellular transmissions in areas with inconsistent cellular coverage. Moving into the future, General Devices will soon be unveiling a product representing the other end of this "bridge", one which will integrate the communications and information management systems of today with those of tomorrow.

There is no doubt that one result of our nation's increased awareness of the problems encountered on Sept. 11th will be that public safety communications will receive priority handling by the government. In the end, a new measure of performance, security and reliability will be added to our communications infrastructure.