WMCHealth Launches New Ambulance Communications Technology to Support Prehospital Care for Seriously Ill and Injured Patients

Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) launched a new communications technology at its network hospitals this week to provide the highest level of prehospital care and preparation for Hudson Valley patients while en route to the hospital's emergency departments.

WMCHealth – home to the only hospital in the Hudson Valley with a Level I trauma center for both children and adults at Westchester Medical Center and Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, and a Level II trauma center at MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie – is the first hospital network in New York State to fully implement this HIPAA-compliant communication technology, called Twiage, across all of its network emergency departments.

The Twiage technology allows emergency medical services personnel and other prehospital providers to communicate in real-time with emergency room personnel to share patient information and ensure a smooth transfer. GPS tracking technology allows the emergency department teams to know the ambulances' exact location to prepare for the patient's arrival.

"Westchester Medical Center Health Network is committed to utilizing our emergency and lifesaving services as rapidly as possible and working with our emergency services providers to ensure that our patients receive the best, most timely care possible, especially when every minute matters," said Jonathan Berkowitz, MD, Medical Director of Regional Emergency Services, Inter-facility Transfer and Disaster Medicine at Westchester Medical Center. "The use of this new technology allows prehospital personnel to share critical information with our waiting emergency department teams so we can work together to save lives."  

Using Twiage, EMS personnel can send text or voice messages, share pictures and other media from an accident scene, supply medical information, send patient identifications to pre-register a patient before he or she arrives, and ask or answer follow up questions.

The technology launched this week at Westchester Medical Center and Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla; MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie; and Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, with plans to extend to HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus in Kingston; Margaretville Hospital in Margaretville; Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis; and St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick within the next month.

EMS agencies – which number upwards of 50 in the Hudson Valley region – can opt into the hospital's Twiage service and receive training at no cost.

Twiage is the latest technology employed by WMCHealth to bring immediate emergency and trauma care access to Hudson Valley residents as quickly as possible.  In addition to the new Twiage technology, WMCHealth also offers a full suite of telemedicine services, including telemedicine technology in the health network's STAT mobile ICU ambulances to help provide immediate care to patients while en route to the hospital.