In Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department (PGFD) began a pilot program to assess the efficacy of the FirstWatch real-time situational awareness application. Supported by Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) funds, this program aimed to provide PGFD leadership with a near-real-time view of the department’s operations that could be accessed through a single platform.

Previously, leaders relied upon multiple sources of information such as Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Systems, electronic Patient Care Reporting (ePCR), Records Management Systems (RMSs), and other platforms to determine the status of the department’s operations and performance. The reliance on numerous sources of information to maintain a holistic view of current operations created significant challenges in maintaining real-time situational awareness. FirstWatch resolves these challenges by integrating multiple data sources and combining all data inputs into actionable information via an internet browser or mobile application.

Real-Time Situational Awareness and Data Analytics

FirstWatch connects to data feeds from CAD systems, ePCR, and RMSs to provide real-time situational awareness. The FirstWatch platform aggregates these data feeds into a single stream of actionable information that authorized users can access. Additionally, FirstWatch conducts pre-configured analyses of the aggregated data and notifies identified personnel when user-defined trigger points are met or exceeded. An example of one such trigger is when a specified number of ambulances are unavailable for dispatching due to current use on calls or based on an out of service status.

In support of its analytics, FirstWatch provides data visualization via gauges, dashboards, and other tools to provide a more user-friendly interface. Gauges, shown in Figure 1, illustrate the current capacity of an identified trigger threshold. Dashboards, as shown in Figure 2, synthesize larger, more complex data to provide a comprehensive overview.

One notable dashboard currently deployed within the NCR is the Hospital Transport Status Dashboard. This dashboard provides fire departments and healthcare facilities staff with the awareness of the current number of ambulances at or en route to every hospital within the region at any given time. Data such as arrival on scene, en route to the hospital, arrival at the hospital, and clearing the call times are available for each ambulance from every fire department, with relevant time stamps included for each status change. As many healthcare facilities operate near capacity on a regular basis, this dashboard alleviates potential capacity burdens by providing healthcare and EMS providers with the information to identify service backlogs. Once a backlog is identified, EMS or healthcare providers can divert new patients to other nearby facilities with existing capacity.

Additionally, FirstWatch provides other tools to participating agencies such as automated auditing of ePCRs to ensure quality assurance and quality improvement. Maryland-National Capital Region fire, rescue, and EMS agencies generate thousands of ePCRs annually. Previously, personnel manually audited these records for specific criteria, quality indicators, or other information. The FirstPass module within FirstWatch reviews each ePCR for user-defined criteria and sends automated alerts to relevant personnel, such as the administration of a specific medication or medical intervention. These alerts identify which ePCRs may require manual review or follow-up with providers, patients, or healthcare facilities.

FirstWatch within the Maryland-National Capital Region

In the Maryland-National Capital Region, PGFD and Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service (MCFRS) leadership utilize the FirstWatch application daily to maintain awareness on current operating status. Field personnel rely on the information collected by the FirstWatch application to make informed decisions regarding patient transport destination, offload, and transfer time, thus improving the availability of ambulances across the region.

In addition to Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, the MDERS FirstWatch program provides FirstWatch licensing, maintenance, and access for the entire National Capital Region, including:

• District of Columbia
• City of Alexandria
• Arlington County
• City of Fairfax
• Fairfax County
• Loudon County
• Prince William County

Each jurisdiction’s fire, rescue, and EMS system can further customize FirstWatch better meet individual data needs and inform decision making. As FirstWatch develops new tools to assist public safety, agencies within the National Capital Region will continue to advance their use of the program to provide enhanced situational awareness across the region.

Severe bleeding, penetrating wounds, hypothermia, and other life-threatening trauma can occur at any time, and require immediate medical attention. To better empower the general population of Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties to recognize and respond to life-threatening trauma in the vital minutes before first responders arrive, the Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) developed the Public Access Trauma Care (PATC) program.

Through the PATC program, MDERS deployed trauma care kits in public buildings, schools, and government facilities across the Maryland-National Capital Region. In addition to providing the kits, MDERS is training the population on the skills and abilities required to render aid, through five training videos that were recently released.

The videos show the proper techniques and tools to treat life-threatening injuries using the equipment and supplies provided in the PATC kits. Students learn how to accurately identify the type and extent of an injury, how to render aid, and which bandages and supplies to use. The five training videos teach individuals how to apply a chest seal, apply a tourniquet, pack a wound, apply direct pressure, and maneuver a victim into the recovery position. Each video demonstrates the application of a skill with detailed narration explaining each step taken by a citizen responder.

To underline the importance and broad applicability of these skills, a propane gas explosion scenario was utilized. In this scene, two individuals applied the proper trauma care techniques on two victims before medical professionals arrived on scene. In this simulated scenario, the interventions by the bystanders saved lives.

All members of the public are encouraged to learn these simple life-saving skills. The training videos and emergency scenario can be seen on MDERS’s YouTube page. The videos can be watched for initial training and reviewed for individuals to refresh their familiarity with the life-saving PATC skills.

The MDERS team would like to extend its gratitude to the Montgomery County Police Department, Prince George’s County Police Department, Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department, and Laurel Volunteer Fire Department for their time and expertise in creating these videos.

The 14^th Annual National Homeland Security Conference (NHSC) was recently held in Las Vegas, Nevada from August 30^th, 2021, to September 2^nd, 2021. The NHSC is an annual event sponsored by the National Homeland Security Association that is designed to bring together professionals from across the homeland security enterprise. Each year, the NHSC provides a variety of trainings, breakout sessions, dynamic keynote speakers, and tours of local target hazards or previous pertinent events to educate and provide information on topics ranging from cybersecurity to counterterrorism and grants management. The Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) sponsored the attendance of 16 stakeholder agency personnel, as well as MDERS staff members.

This year’s NHSC participants attended presentations on unmanned aircraft systems, the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violent extremist, cyber security, and more. The evaluations reflected that the participants benefited greatly from attending these sessions. Some comments include:

“I have a greater understanding of the capabilities and threats posed by unmanned systems. I also learned about existing and emerging technologies and the capabilities utilized to remediate these systems.”

“I enjoyed the session on planning for a multiple agency response exercise. The speaker gave me a better idea on how to get the agencies I would need in participation on board.”

Kinetic Mobile Tabletops: The Answer to Crawl Walk Run

At this year’s NHSC, MDERS Emergency Response Planner Michael Ryman, and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) Captain Dwayne Dutrow, presented a breakout session titled: Kinetic Mobile Tabletops: The Answer to Crawl, Walk, Run. This hour-long session covered the three-year development of the MDERS Tabletop in a Box program and how it can be deployed as a systematic, scalable, and economical capability development tool across various emergency response disciplines. The presentation concluded with a review of real-world success stories from personnel who participated in various iterations of the MDERS Tabletop in a Box Program.

The MDERS Tabletop in a Box program is a coordinated effort with stakeholder agencies to provide a portable Incident Command System (ICS) training tool. The Tabletop in a Box program includes pre-scripted exercises, manipulatives, and maps of target hazard locations within their area of jurisdiction. This programs main tool is a portable box containing all materials required to run a hybrid exercise. This approach provides stakeholders with a forum to discuss, evaluate, and deconflict their response policies and procedures in a collaborative environment.

Since 2018, MDERS has delivered a total of 38 TTXs to law enforcement, fire/rescue/EMS, public health, and hospital stakeholders in the Maryland-NCR.

In response to topics covered at the 2021 Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) Virtual Symposium, the Training and Exercise Team received many requests for follow up presentations. These requests resulted in the creation of the 2021-2022 MDERS Webinar Series.

One of the requests from the MDERS stakeholders was for a follow-on conversation that elaborated in greater detail topics discussed during the 2021 MDERS Symposium. In response, on October 6^th, 2021, MDERS hosted the Leveraging Open-Source Intelligence for Preventative Public Safety Purposes webinar in partnership with the New York Police Department (NYPD) Intelligence Bureau’s (IB) Global Trends & Developments Team. The event was attended by 37 stakeholders, representing 25 agencies and numerous disciplines throughout the NCR and the State of Maryland.

NYPD Intelligence Analysts briefed National Capital Region (NCR) stakeholders on current threat assessments for global terrorism and mass violence. They also expanded on topics including racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism, leveraging intelligence by law enforcement, and developing event threat assessments. NYPD utilized recent cases studies, including the January 6 events at the Capitol, to further assess how these concepts should be applied to real-world events.

MDERS collected evaluations from the participants at the end of the webinar to assess the content discussed and to inform future training opportunities. Stakeholder comments from the Leveraging Open-Source Intelligence for Preventative Public Safety Purposes webinar include:

• “I learned about catalytic events and how these events may motivate a malicious actor, who may or may not have pre-existing ties to an extremists’ group or ideology.”
• “The most valuable part of this training was learning about the available tools for public and private sector, about the catalytic events vs. reactive violence and about the different extremist groups.”
• “Each presentation flowed very well into the next presenter and was all relevant without the speaker’s content duplicating. I thought it was great.”
• “The most valuable part of this training was learning about the coordination and facilitation of the of sharing of open-source intelligence with the appropriate agencies to assist them with their missions, how to utilize appropriate intelligence information in planning efforts, and how to leverage available tools to assist public safety agencies carry out their mission.”

MDERS will host the second webinar in this training series in early 2022, which will focus on cyber threats and their impacts to homeland security and public safety.

For more information on future webinars and other training opportunities, please contact Hannah Thomas at Hannah.Thomas1@maryland.gov.

In a time of constrained resources and ever-evolving threats across  the homeland security enterprise, utilizing emerging technology to overcome capability gaps remains a challenging process. The Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) reserves five percent of its annual budget, to support innovative solutions that meet current capability goals or address emerging threats, as outlined in the 2020-2023 Strategic Plan. These funds support the identification, procurement, implementation, and evaluation of novel solutions through the MDERS Innovation Program.

Maryland-National Capital Region stakeholders are able to submit proposals to the Innovation Program to pilot and evaluate new technologies or other innovative solutions. These pilot programs are limited to a maximum cost of $20,000.00 and a period of performance of 180 days or fewer, as well as compliance with the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) grant requirements. All proposals for the programs are ultimately reviewed and approved by the MDERS Steering Committee prior to awarding any funds.
The initial year of the Innovation Program, FY20, made possible several enterprise-wide initiatives, including the following:

 

Situational Awareness Cameras for Law Enforcement Armored Vehicles

This initiative provides video cameras mounted to law enforcement armored vehicles that will live stream video footage to the incident command post. These cameras further enhance situational awareness and inform decision making by providing incident commanders with a real-time view of the incident.

 

PerSim Augmented Reality Patient Assessment Training System

The PerSim system provides a portable, interactive patient assessment training utilizing the Microsoft Hololens system. This system provides a realistic patient simulation, allowing the trainer to create realistic patient reactions to interventions in real time. The portability of the system provides personnel with the ability to be trained while remaining available for emergency responses.

 

Augment Training Systems (ATS) Virtual Reality Mass Casualty Triage Training System

The ATS training system provides a portable solution to mass casualty triage training, based on the Oculus virtual reality headset. This tool enables personnel to conduct training on mass casualty triage in any location. The system lets responders experience a large number of divers patients and a variety of scenarios without the use of traditional exercises.

 

Leader Search Bluetooth Listening Device

The Leader Bluetooth sensors provide structural collapse rescue teams with the ability to rapidly deploy sensors, with an increased range, to listen for trapped victims during a response. The system can be expanded across a wider search area using corded sensors for additional listening capability.

 

My Emergency Operations Plan (MyEOP) Application

The MyEOP application is a phone-based application designed for healthcare and other facilities to have electronic access to their emergency plans, procedures, and other information in-hand at all times.

For more information on the MDERS Innovation Program, please contact Mike Ryman at Michael.Ryman1@Maryland.Gov.

In June and September 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hosted its annual Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Symposium, a two-part event sponsored in partnership with the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). Due to ongoing public health concerns, the FAA conducted the 2021 symposium in a fully virtual format, allowing attendees to access sessions at their convenience during, and after the conclusion of, the event.

The 2021 FAA UAS Symposium aimed to connect enterprise UAS operators, as well as commercial and recreational remote pilots, directly with the regulators who enable drone integration into the National Airspace System. The symposium provided attendees the opportunity to learn, train, and troubleshoot problems with other members of the UAS community to ensure their operations remain safe and continue to grow along with new regulations.

Within the Maryland-National Capital Region, Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties continue to make great strides in the development and implementation of their respective UAS programs. Currently, law enforcement, fire and rescue, and emergency management agencies in Montgomery County are crafting and implementing training programs to operationalize UAS into emergency response. In Prince George’s County, the police department leads the UAS program and is actively procuring UAS equipment while concurrently designing its training program. To facilitate this process for the counties, the Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) sponsored the attendance of nine personnel from both jurisdictions, as well as two MDERS staff members.

Attendees at this year’s symposium rated the event highly, stating that:

• “The FAA Symposium was a great event that allowed me to to learn more about safe operations without waivers under the new operating laws for UAS beyond visible line of sight. This will directly benefit operations within my jurisdiction.”
• “The FAA Symposium remains a very important event that allows attendees to hear directly from the FAA on new laws/regulations and what we should expect in the future.”

To learn more about the FAA UAS Symposium and view proceedings from past events, please visit the following link: https://www.auvsi.net/faa2021/proceedings.

With the new school year starting, and a return to in-person instruction, the Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System (MDERS) team delivered a presentation about the Public Access Trauma Care (PATC) program to the nurses of Montgomery County Public Schools Health Services.

The PATC program aims to empower civilians to treat severe injuries in the critical time period between injury and the arrival of medical professionals. During this period, proactive aid can help mitigate fatal injuries to a victim, such as extremity bleeding, compromised airways, sucking chest wounds, and hypothermia.

The presentation outlined the resources available to nurses in every public school to respond to such injuries. In total, MDERS has placed 754 PATC bags inside Montgomery County Public Schools, with at least one bag located in each school building. Included in each bag are five individual kits, each containing a tourniquet, chest seal, survival blanket, compressed gauze, trauma shears, gloves, medical tape, and other supplies to address these injuries.

To understand how to utilize these items and identify the injury patterns that would necessitate their use, the nurses were shown several training videos that covered wound packing, tourniquet application, direct pressure, chest seal application, and body positioning. The videos are accessible for the nurses and the public to review on YouTube.

As the PATC program continues to evolve, opportunities for hands-on practice of these skills will be accessible to nurses and students. If you have any questions about the PATC program, please contact us at mders@maryland.gov.