North Collier Fire buys technology that shares patient info in real time to ER doctors

State of the art technology that can help save lives when seconds count is now in Southwest Florida. A patient’s information can be sent directly to a doctor in real time. We learned how this will help evaluate medical emergencies before arriving at the ER.

North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District recently bought new technology that helps paramedics get patient information to hospitals before they show up.

“The 65 and overs that arrived by an ambulance, 45% of them didn’t even need to be admitted into the hospital,” Deputy Fire Chief Jorge Aguilera said. “So if you can imagine what they determine is there’s potential savings of over $559 million each year to the health care cost.”

Instead, when doctors receive information before the patient arrives in front of them, they could start assessing vitals, looking at injury diagrams or even see video from inside the ambulance to make real-time assessments.

“What this technology does is first put in the hands of the medics the information that they need, visuals and tape and additional diagnostics that are critical for the patient on the scene,” Dr. James Augustine said.

“A device like this is literally shaving off minutes off of a diagnosis that ultimately can mean you save somebody’s life,” said Jimmy Patronis, the State Fire Marshal and State CFO.

Devices like these are just the beginning. Firefighters say to expect more lifesaving innovations like this in the near future.

“I’m not talking about the innovation that’s 10 years away,” Aguilera said. “I’m talking the next couple years, we’ll be seeing some drastic changes on how 911 comes to your house and what they can do.”