Mississippi Mobile Tele-Assist System Receives GD GoBox Deployable Units for Improved Regional EMS Communications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RIDGEFIELD, NJ – July 7, 2020 ­– GD (General Devices), a Med Tech specialist in mobile telemedicine and telehealth, announced the Mississippi Mobile Tele-Assist System (MTAS) received new GD GoBoxes, deployable units that are enhancing region-wide EMS communications near Jackson, Mississippi, for daily communications and during disasters, large events and mass casualties.

MTAS is a University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) program that focuses on using telemedicine for day-to-day EMS communications. The 10-year-old program uses the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) nationwide public-safety broadband network for reliable and secure connectivity. The GD GoBox mobile triage station allows MTAS to provide the best care at the right place and time.

The hospital implemented two types of GD GoBoxes. The first box extends bandwidth, allowing multiple responders to be on the same network. The Wi-Fi extender works with multiple commercial cellular carriers and has full computing. The integrated GD e-Bridge mobile app with telehealth features allows video conferencing in low-bandwidth areas for patient tracking and status.

The second GD GoBox is a fully interoperable all-in-one telemedicine unit with Wi-Fi-enabled peripherals such as otoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, ECG, temperature, ultrasound, pulse and oximeters. The ready-to-go box allows EMS responders to perform remote triage with team communications and live telemedicine.

The GoBox deployment follows UMCC’s March 2019 rollout of both the GD e-Bridge telemedicine app and GD CAREpoint workstations in hospitals, ambulances and deployable units. Two CAREpoint workstations with the GD e-Bridge mobile telemedicine app run at the MEDCOM center in Jackson, which is part of UMMC. GD e-Bridge is configurable, enabling users to tailor the interface, alerts, buttons, authorized participants, workflow and more to support field personnel’s assessments.

Dr. Damon Darcy, an emergency medicine physician and visionary behind MTAS, is a believer in bringing “Jackson to the patient”. “Technology is the key addition we need to improve emergency care in rural America,” Dr. Darcy said.

The medical center has eight GD GoBoxes, also referred to as Deployable Units (DUs), each with two rugged cases:

• The first rugged case houses a Panasonic CF-33 Toughbook tablet that runs the GD e-Bridge software, a Sierra Wireless MG90 mobile router that can connect to two different cellular data networks — AT&T FirstNet and C-Spire — and AC and DC power connections for plugging into a wall outlet or a car cigarette lighter. The Sierra Wireless router provides the Toughbook’s broadband connection and creates a hot spot for other devices such as a ZOLL X-Series monitor.
• The second case houses a BirdDog pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera, a camera tripod, Jabra USB speaker/microphone, and all necessary cables such as AC and DC power cords and the camera cable.

With the DUs setup, responders can place e-Bridge video calls or send e-messages back to a CAREpoint at MEDCOM. MEDCOM officials can forward those messages to doctors at UMMC or receiving hospitals running e-Bridge on PCs in emergency departments. They can also send GPS tracking information to determine estimated time of arrivals. A video call placed to MEDCOM can be conferenced to a doctor or receiving hospital. The camera connected to the DU can be remotely controlled by MEDCOM personnel using a CAREpoint or receiving hospital personnel on PCs running e-Bridge.

In 2019, FirstNet announced a memorandum of understanding with UMCC to drive innovation for rural emergency medical care and response.

GD GoBox also offers home health and other applications beyond mobile integrated healthcare–community paramedicine (MIH/CP) and acute care. Contact GD to discuss how GD’s telehealth solutions can improve your EMS team communications.

ABOUT GD (General Devices)

GD is a 40-year-old medical technology company that specializes in mobile telemedicine and telehealth that, enables simply smarter patient care by empowering hospitals, EMS, mobile integrated healthcare, community paramedicine and public safety responders with the most comprehensive, highly configurable, and affordable medical team communications solutions. Learn more at general-devices.com