Colorado Springs Fire Department using new bracelets to track patients during emergencies

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - New technology is making it easier for Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) to track patients during emergency calls, whether they're routine, or mass-casualty events.

New wristbands used by CSFD bring life-saving and time-saving benefits, with just the scan of a barcode.

"[It] basically looks like a hospital band than anybody else would would have that's inside of the hospital." explains Lieutenant Aaron McConnellogue with the department. "We put these on every patient that we have and then we actually take our phone, scan it, and then it'll start to create a patient for us."

The Lieutenant says that 'Pulsera' app, which is used almost universally by first-responders, acts as a communication tool between the EMS providers and the hospital system.

McConnellogue says in the last 8-or-so months, they've upped how they use the app with the use of the wristbands, which will pool all of that information into one throughout the entire duration of a patients' care during an emergency.

"Is this a trauma? Just a cardiac [issue]? Is this a stroke patient? You know ... what is the nature of the illness or injury with this patient?" says McConnellogue about what kind of information the hospital is looking for. "[This way] they're able to start preparing and be ready before we even arrive to the to the hospital itself."

When it comes to patient care, the efficiency of first responders adds up.

"Seconds matter and minutes matter, and every place that we can save 10 seconds here, and 60 seconds here, it adds up to minutes" the Lieutenant said.

The department says that mass casualty events, like the shooting that claimed 5 lives and injured 25 at the Club Q nightclub in November of 2022, prompted them to look at how they can dial in how they handle those situations.

"The wrist bands would been vital for us at that point." said McConnellogue about the Club Q shooting. "By just us banding and scanning the patients, that now gives us an idea no matter which hospital we go to, we're able to track how many individual patients that we have, and it just helps us have a better situational awareness." he adds about any future mass-casualty event.

He adds that within the Pulsera app, they can create a geographic area on GPS which would be labeled as an "Incident", and make it so any agency operating on the app will have their information or reports all sorted into that Incident.

"As we had happen in Club Q, you know, we had a lot of mutual aid partners and everybody's coming in to help. It just puts us all on the same page with the same information. And that's just that's very beneficial for all of us." said McConnellogue.

Survivors of the tragedy, can only agree, saying that the use of these bracelets is a no-brainer.

"That is going to ease time on call outs, that's going to ease time and of how short it is for us to get where we need to go." explained Ashtin Gamblin, who was shot 9 times by the attacker at Club Q near the front door.

She was glad to hear that the wristbands will also help families reunite quicker, regardless of the situation, as she recalls her own husband's struggles to find out where she was that night, while deployed with the military.

"With [the shooting victims] you had family members driving to every hospital across town, driving to the police department, driving to the bar, trying to find their loved ones." she explained of the chaos that November night.

Lt. McConnellogue says that the wristbands are equipped on all trucks within the department, and comes at no extra cost to their budget.