The Cheney City Council gave its blessings to Fire Chief Tom Jenkins to pursue a contract with a software company that would bring the fire department’s medical response information system into the 21st century.
Jenkins said software and fire department applications company ESO Solutions has bought out the department’s current software provider Fire House, and that subsequently that software will be phased out. The department budgeted funds to improve its call program from “dial up to flip phone,” but entering into a contract to obtain the ESO software would move that to the “smart phone” level.
“Medics can go to an emergency and that data on the call can be pre-loaded onto a touchscreen by the dispatcher as they go,” Jenkins said.
Besides real-time call data, the information provided by ESO’s software would include patient information such as medications, allergies and other data from past calls. Pediatric medication and equipment medication would also be available, and that and any subsequent data could be seamlessly transferred to AMR personnel assisting on the call.
The software also allows medical personnel to track the call after the patient is transported to their discharge, giving medics the ability to learn “real-time results from their actions.” The software also contains over 400 “closed-ended questions divided into 20 categories of assessment and treatment” in a number of different languages so medics can identify the patient’s problem and explain treatments — something Jenkins said would be particularly useful during calls assisting foreign students at Eastern Washington University.
Jenkins said there would be a one-time data conversion fee of $10,488.23 to install ESO software, which includes transfer of existing data. The software would run $9,003.23 per year after, compared to the $8,653 the department currently pays for Fire House and one other program.
“It’s a difference of only $350 a year on two programs Cheney is already running that we don’t need,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins also noted that Spokane Valley, city of Spokane, fire districts 3, 8 and 9 and AMR (American Medical Response) have already committed to using the software, allowing Cheney to share information with these departments once a contract is implement. Jenkins said the department will also need to purchase several Dell laptop computers for the software.
In resolutions, the City Council unanimously approved two contracts with Parametrix Engineering. The first was a $23,480 consultant agreement contract for engineering services on an upcoming water main replacement project.
The city is receiving $180,000 in Community Block Grant Development funds for the project, which will replace an existing main on North Third Street from Oak to Oakland streets, and a consultant agreement is required for grant funding reimbursement.
The second was a $43,805 contract for construction engineering services on the Betz Road overlay project. The city is receiving $410,000 in Transportation Improvement Board funding for the work from North Sixth to Washington streets.
Public Works Director Todd Ableman reminded the council it had approved preliminary engineering services for the project with Parametrix in January, with the total amount of the engineering work coming to $79,851.
Finally, the council approved a Light Department request to waive the competitive bidding requirements for a public agency so it could purchase some surplus primary electrical feed wire from the city of Milton-Freewater, Ore. Director Steve Boorman said they would purchase the wire for 50 cents on the $1.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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