LA County Fire Dept. Improves Treatment of LEP Patients with e-Bridge Interpreter

RIDGEFIELD, NJ – September 12, 2022: With more than 8 percent of people living in the U.S. classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP), this poses a challenge to emergency medical services (EMS) who have an obligation to provide equal care for all.  With rates as high as 19% in California,  the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) now uses e-Bridge Interpreter to bridge the gap between EMS and patients across the county. e-Bridge connects EMS, physicians and patients to live video language interpreters to ensure the care that LEP patients receive is not limited by language barriers.  

The Los Angeles County Fire Department, which is responsible for protecting the lives and property of over four million residents living in 1.25 million housing units in 60 cities and other areas of the county, originally introduced the e-Bridge Communication Platform in 2019 to enable telehealth between EMS and Medical Control physicians. As of August they have launched the newly updated Interpreter feature across all Los Angeles County Fire EMS units. 

The highly configurable, HIPAA-compliant e-Bridge Interpreter supports LACoFD’s  mission to “protect lives, the environment and property by providing prompt, skillful, and cost-effective fire protection and life safety services” by:

• eliminating miscommunication due to language barriers – better than voice only
• providing Spanish and American Sign Language video interpreters 24/7/365
• offering an additional 34 languages Monday-Friday with extended hours for the most requested languages

With e-Bridge Interpreter, communicating with LEP patients is easy, ensuring timely emergency care. Discover more about e-Bridge Interpreter and the e-Bridge Communication Platform.

About GD (General Devices)

GD is a Healthtech company specializing in communication solutions that help EMS and hospitals deliver simply seamless patient care. Powered by responsive innovation, GD’s user-friendly solutions facilitate rapid, secure, voice, telehealth and data sharing communications across care teams to help save time, money and lives. Backed by a 40+ year history and thousands of implementations, GD is a widely revered industry leader. Visit https://general-devices.com/ to learn more.

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Media Contact: 

Alessia Fiorello

201-313-7075 

marketing@general-devices.com