Mission Assistance

          How many of you have smiled at that old cliché "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"?

     Well, that's actually what happened for 3½ days in February in Bellevue, WA, as representatives from EMS, fire, law enforcement, emergency management and industry, along with venture capitalists and representatives of the Department of Homeland Security's Directorate of Science and Technology, convened to further assist emergency responders in meeting their missions.

     The 2009 Homeland Security S&T Stakeholders Conference-West was a forum to bring all these groups together (plus vendors showcasing their latest wares) to help not just the U.S., but the international rescue and response communities serve more effectively. The conference occurred both on-scene and online, with many online attendees submitting questions for presenters and panelists and voting on top research and development needs.

     The S&T Directorate has six technical divisions: Explosives; Chemical and Biological; Command, Control and Interoperability; Borders and Maritime Security; Human Factors Behavioral Sciences; and Infrastructure and Geophysical. It also operates a program called TechSolutions. TechSolutions was established to develop information, resources and technology solutions to address mission capability gaps identified by the emergency response community. The program's goal is to, within 12-15 months, field technologies that meet 80% of project operational requirements for less than $1 million. This will be achieved through rapid prototyping or identifying existing technologies.

     In an effort to better serve its various constituents, including emergency responders, DHS operates a dozen Integrated Product Teams, or IPTs. These function in mission-critical areas to identify needs and promote projects and capabilities to meet them. The IPTs engage DHS "customers," acquisition partners, S&T technical division heads and end users in developing, transitioning and acquiring solutions.

     Toward the end of better serving emergency providers, the DHS created a 13th IPT for first responders. In conjunction with the National Defense Industrial Association, the department began its effort by assembling a group of 20 emergency responders representing law enforcement, fire suppression, EMS, emergency management, bomb/ordnance disposal and the Citizen Corps. The International Association of EMS Chiefs (IAEMSC) sent Jim Cole of San Juan Island (WA) EMS and me to represent EMS interests.

BUILDING & DRIVING

     When we gathered for orientation that Monday, none of us knew what was expected of us or how things would proceed. What transpired over the next several hours, as Story County, IA, Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald put it, was basically building a road and driving on it at the same time.

     The DHS S&T folks explained this was a new direction for them, and they wanted us to tell them what we needed, rather than them dictating what they'd give us. How, they asked, can we help you help the public you serve?

     The conference was kicked off by keynote speaker Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, U.S. Army, retired. Honoré led the joint task force response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He was dynamic and quotable, accusing one reporter at a press conference of being "stuck on stupid." He gave an inspiring talk on disaster preparedness, not only for emergency services and their support organizations, but for individual citizens as well.

     From there panelists were introduced, the concept of the new first responder IPT was explained, and we were asked what we thought the research and development community could do to make our jobs easier.

     What came forth was an interesting cross-section of ideas. Some were strategic, like having a simple interoperable communications system that really was simple, interoperable and affordable. Some were tactical, such as creating a real, working Star Trek-style tricorder for patient assessment and monitoring.

     Law enforcement representatives wanted technology for field interrogation and identification of suspects. Fire requested various rescue adjuncts, communications and personnel tracking systems. Participants from emergency management and the Citizen Corps discussed gaming technologies for simulation training. The bomb squad/EOD folks supported this concept by pointing out that the controllers for some explosives robots are now similar to Xbox controllers. Military EOD schools discovered that young soldiers, sailors and Marines were coming in already skilled at Xbox use, and by adapting their controllers to the Xbox model, the schools reduced the time needed for proficiency training from three days to one.

     EMS went last. Aside from the tricorder request, we suggested an MCI program/system that could track patients through triage, treatment and transport, and provide the medical group supervisor, EOC and receiving hospitals with real-time tracking of these patients on to hospital reception, then assemble the information in a usable format for after-action evaluation and reporting.

     The EMS laundry list of R&D requests also included rescue-specific portable technologies like units for field-testing for cyanide exposure and measuring structural collapse/crush syndrome victims' blood for myoglobin. We also discussed the broad concept of protection or recovery technology for electromagnetic pulses (EMPs). Since everything from our vehicles to our communications and electronic systems are susceptible to EMPs, this is something the federal government is in a unique position to help create fixes for.

     Another request we made was for better air monitoring and portable filtration systems. This resulted in pushback from the fire suppression section of the panel. They did not want a device that would extend working periods between rest breaks. The EMS response was simple: We didn't really care about the length of the work period; we were concerned about the safety of the rescuer's respiratory system and the effect these devices would have on the overall rescue operation.

     To support that, we put forward three examples. The first was that as current technologies work, they become clogged with what they're filtering, and the work of breathing becomes increasingly fatiguing. This was never more evident than during the SARS outbreak and its effects on the Toronto EMS system. Toronto EMS workers were required to wear their air-purifying respirators for their entire shifts. After three days of this, more and more of the EMS workforce were calling in sick—not because they were contracting SARS, but from fatigue.

     Second, we cited that bladder cancer is the second most common form of cancer in the fire service, and that firefighters have 2-5 times the rate as the general public. Bladder cancer is primarily a smoker's disease, but fire suppression personnel suffer disproportionately from it, primarily due to going off bottled air during the salvage and overhaul phases of fire operations.

     Last, we cited pulmonary deterioration, an average aging of rescuers' pulmonary systems by 12 years, the World Trade Center cough and the crippling disability and death of many rescue workers who responded to the World Trade Center collapse of 2001. Our argument was persuasive and carried the entire panel in support.

     Finally, we asked for interoperable portable charging systems. We conveyed our impression that a lot of equipment manufacturers seem to be not just in the equipment business, but in the battery business as well. Each new piece of equipment seems to have its own unique battery system that works only for it. We, as field operators, want to cut down on the equipment and expense needed to power our field operations. The bomb squad/EOD folks chimed in that a number of their specialty equipment manufacturers had switched to the DeWalt rechargeable battery system, available at any hardware store. The fire suppression contingent noted that several companies had developed portable vehicle-extrication equipment that uses Makita or DeWalt batteries.

WHAT ELSE?

     The rest of the conference consisted of the heads of the six S&T divisions talking about what they'd developed and were working on now. Some of the devices showcased included a lightweight equivalent to an hour SCBA bottle that weighed under 30 pounds, was only a few inches thick and folded in the middle for greater flexibility and mobility. The device works with existing SCBA masks. On the interoperable communications side, there was a programmable portable radio with a unique antenna that could broadcast and receive on UHF, VHF and the 700 and 800 MHz frequencies. Currently marketed for around $5,000, these would be command radios only, but would certainly make life easier when responding to multiagency incidents.

     There were a number of goodies for law enforcement involving biometric identification and portable scanning devices. On the medical side, Cole and I were told S&T was already well into developing a tricorder-type device for the military. It hoped to roll out a working prototype for field testing in the next year or two.

     Additionally, they've developed and put into production a portable telemetry bed/gurney that is already in service with the military. This device monitors the patient's various vital signs and functions, displaying a readout on the gurney and sending it to a central receiving/monitoring unit. Currently our injured service members are placed on these devices at receiving surgical units in Iraq and Afghanistan and remain on them through transport to definitive care at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

     The conference concluded with a joint assembly of the panelists and DHS S&T division heads, and we all voted for the top five projects for S&T to focus on. Better respiratory protection and monitoring was one of the top five selected.

     In post-conference follow-up e-mails and telephone conversations with S&T Directorate officials, it looks like they will be setting up the first responder IPT. If they do, EMS will have good representation on that team.

     Norm Rooker is chief of Ouray County EMS in Colorado. He is a founding member of the International Association of EMS Chiefs and leads its Rural EMS Chiefs section. He has been involved in EMS and rescue since 1973.

TechSolutions: Closing Responder Gaps

Have you spotted a chink in your community's first-responder armor? Is there a tool you need but don't have, or equipment requirements you have trouble fulfilling? If so, the Department of Homeland Security wants to know about it.

The TechSolutions program, run by DHS' Directorate of Science and Technology, lets emergency responders bring identified capability gaps to the attention of those who can do something about them. A new website, www.TechSolutions.DHS.gov, has been established for this purpose. It's part of the DHS First Responder Technologies (R-Tech) program.

If program leaders find a gap worthy of addressing, they can guide creation of a prototype solution, usually within a time frame of 12-15 months. The R-Tech program is geared toward closing such gaps through rapid prototyping, technical assistance and information sharing. Only first responders can submit ideas.

"We would like ideas from firefighters, law enforcement, EMS, hazmat and other responder communities…for solutions that will help them do their jobs faster, more efficiently and more effectively," TechSolutions program director Greg Price said of the effort. "These ideas can be as simple as the fireground compass…or as complex as 3-D location devices that provide X, Y and Z coordinates for responders within a building."

In this case, as R-Tech director Jose Vazquez notes, perfect can be the enemy of good. TechSolutions' goal isn't to fully erase the problems brought to its attention, but to resolve roughly 80% of each capability gap at a cost of $1 million or less. S&T researchers will tackle more complex issues. For instance, while TechSolutions works on a detection tool for 13 common toxic industrial chemicals, the S&T Chem/Bio Division is pursuing technology to identify a greater range, as well as biological agents.

"TechSolutions may not give you everything," Vasquez said, "but down the road our research and development team and the national labs with which we work closely can fill in the gaps we are unable to address."

John Erich, Associate Editor

     What do you think? What would you ask the feds for if given the chance to request new products and technologies? E-mail your ideas to nancy.perry@cygnusb2b.com.