FirstWatch System Helping First Responders With Swine Flu Cases

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May 21, 2009

The H1N1 virus, also known as influenza A or the Swine Flu, continues to affect cities and towns around the world. According to today's numbers from the World Health Organization, 41 countries have officially reported 11,034 cases of influenza A or H1N1 infection, including 85 deaths. Ten of those fatalities are in the United States.

Since yesterday, three countries have had an increase of newly confirmed cases. They are Canada with 223, the United States with 241 and Mexico with 244.

FirstWatch, a company in Encinitas, California, has developed computer software that rides on top of existing systems like CAD to help first responders identify trends which helps in outbreaks like H1N1. It continually monitors the underlying data once certain key words are marked as 'triggers'.

"The triggers can help us be alerted. It sends out automatic notifications and that way it takes out the human error," says Deputy Chief Criss Brainard, San Diego Fire-Rescue and President,San Diego Medical Services Enterprises.

"It actually takes a burden off of the Com Center personnel when they're already doing more work than they ordinarily would have to do," explains Todd Stout, President of FirstWatch.

The system documents cases of infection and sends notifications to handheld devices giving fire and EMS personnel the ability to make crucial decisions before responding to a possible case of the flu.

"We have customers who, including Toronto, who learned that they actually spread the disease by moving patients so, they're very, very cautious about that now," Stout said.

"We've asked our crews to be diligent about recognizing patients. We call it the 6 foot barrier. As soon as they get within six feet of the patient they need to make a mental decision 'Am I going to don the extra personal protective equipment?' In this case it's a mask because we already wear glasses and gloves on every call," Brainard said.

They're also being diligent about putting masks on patients with 100 degrees of fever or more, a cough or a sore throat.

"The flu does kill thousands every year. I think what got everybody so up in arms with this, this strain has never been seen. It's not in any human, anywhere. So, there isn't anybody on this planet that has antibodies to it. And if it doesn't level off, if it doesn't do what we hope that it will do, who knows where this could go," Brainard said.

The World Health Organization has kept its pandemic alert level at 5. This level shows how far the flu has spread. It's about geography, not severity. Officials believe the virus will die down in the summer months but reemerge again in the fall, and possibly be more severe.

FirstWatch has about 80 customers in the U.S. and Canada both large and small. The vast majority of them are helping their local public health agencies with their ability to gather this information.

To watch a video about how the FirstWatch system works, click here.