"It's Walking That Fine Line." A Former Paramedic's Views on Public Safety Technology

Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure

Laura Beth: Thank you for joining us for an Intergraph SG&I podcast. In today’s podcast we are talking to Paul Thomas who is the project manager at our office in Melbourne, Australia. Paul, thank you for joining us.

Paul: Not a problem.

Laura Beth: While Paul is a current Intergraph employee, before working for Intergraph he worked as a paramedic for 15 years. And today we want to get his perspective on how his past job experience effects his understanding of what matters most to those working in the public safety world. Paul, first just tell us about your past job experience as a paramedic.

Paul: Yes, I had spent 15 years working for the ambulance service in Victoria, Australia. The first ten years of that was working on what’s known as on the road here which is in field paramedic attending both emergency and non-emergency events. And the last five years of that I was working in the control room or the dispatch center. I was a station officer in there. Back when I was working in the control room there were all uniformed staff in there. In recent times non-uniformed people have been taking the calls and dispatching the ambulances here in Victoria.

Laura Beth: So, what made you decide to come and work for Intergraph?

Paul: Well about 18 years ago the ambulance service decided that it needed to improve it’s call taking dispatching processes so they went to market to look for a solution to that problem. Intergraph won that process. Because I had had some small amounts of computer experience back then I was part of the team involved in evaluating that. It came to the point where either stay with the ambulance service or move over to Intergraph. And I saw more challenges working for Intergraph.

Laura Beth: So tell me how do you use your past job experience as a paramedic to help your former peers understanding and invest in new solution and software capabilities.

Paul: It’s bringing what the person standing out in the field is looking for in the way of support and information they need. How they need that presented when they need that presented to them. But it’s also looking at the call takers and dispatchers require. So it’s the end to end process having talked to the end users if you like or the people that are calling in actually face to face, then working in the control room understanding the information you’ve got to capture and what’s the important information to get out into the field. And once people in the field do with that information and it’s knowing that life cycle of the information and passing that on to the people.

Laura Beth: Right, so you said you’ve been with Intergraph for over 18 years now, so obviously from your years as a paramedic things have changed a lot. Kind of talk about that, especially from a technology stand point.

Paul: That’s true. First of all in essence the task that happens out in the field hasn’t changed. It’s just the environment now that has changed. So looking at the environment and the way things have progressed now. Originally it was all voice traffic so everything had to be recorded and voiced back out to the crews in the field. Now with advancements in technology we can get a lot more information out to them. But that’s also a double edged sword. It’s getting the information that they need out to them without swamping them in stuff that they don’t need to see. So it’s walking that fine line.

Laura Beth: Would you say things are for the better though? Do we see things moving in a good direction?

Paul: Ah yes. We get far more pertinent information out to the crews. Because back when it was all voice traffic the people reading the data were editing it themselves and just passing on what they thought was relevant to the person in the field. But now because we can transport a lot more data out to them remembering that we should be trying to give them the information they need. It’s been up to the person in the field to sort through that information and pick out the best that they need.

Laura Beth: So what’s some advice you would give to those working in the public safety world and facing a decision to change out a system and embrace new technology?

Paul: Try and think if you are standing out on the side of the road somewhere what you think you may need in the way of information. Don’t look at it as I’ve got all this amazing technology available let’s us it. Think of what the person out in the field requires to do their job.

Laura Beth: So where do you see the technology taking those in the public safety industry? What do you see in the future?

Paul: It’s providing more people out in the field with that information. And also the mechanisms to request additional help and information like the mobile responder stuff that’s coming out of New Zealand. It’s all now on pda’s and tablet pc’s. Where even just a few years ago we were looking at large heavy in vehicle mdt’s. So the technologies getting further away from the support infrastructures in either the cars and ambulances and things like that and providing the officers actually remote can action back into both the information and support systems.

Laura Beth: And how would that you working in that environment twenty years ago, how would that have changed your day-to-day job to have access and mobile technology? I mean is that something that you foresaw or that would ever be possible?

Paul: No, it was a case of how small can they make this portable radio that I’ve got to carry around back then. So at least I had some form of communication. Nowadays I can go and stand in the middle of some field somewhere and still receive both the information about the person I’m dealing with but also who is responding to the event. The geography surrounding me. The hazards that are close by. Back when I was on the road it was all but feel. You looked around. You tried to access what was going on around you. But you never really knew what was out there.

Laura Beth: Smarter decision making from having more information in your hands.

Paul: Correct and also nowadays we provide a lot more information to the supervisory staff that are out there in the field that they can understand what is going on around them. But when I was on the road where if they weren’t in the vehicle and missed radio calls they just had no deception of the events that are happening around them.

Laura Beth: So what are some you know you’re out there talking with folks out in the public safety field, what are some problems that you think still need to be addressed and things that are still apparent and things that we are going to need to address in the next five years?

Paul: Oh, I need to get the crystal ball out. It’s adapting the new technology as they come along that are relevant to the field in which we work. As I said before, it’s not just a case of we have all this technology we better use it. It’s a case of is this technology beneficial. It’s all about providing technology that gives the people in the field a sense of that they have support around them and can get the support when they need it.

Laura Beth: And so what do you tell people who are delaying in both implementing new technology like this or mobile technology?

Paul: Pretty much the same thing. Don’t be overhauled by the technology but also don’t overdrive the technology. It all comes back to what do we need to deliver? Like even with in the police, fire and ambulance services you get the IT departments that like a lot of people inside Intergraph also they like new technology. They like new technology. They like new toys. It’s a case of you need to access that technology and see what you can use it for and is it beneficial for the tasks they have to do.

Laura Beth: Well Paul, we appreciate your time and thank you for being our guest. You can learn more about our Intergraph SG&I solutions by visiting our website at Intergraph.com/publicsafety.