May 2003 Press Release
A growing crisis
In the State of Connecticut, a critical shortage of Emergency Medical Trainees (EMT) has been progressing. From 1997 to 2001 the state lost over 2600 EMTs while the demand for their services has increased. Town volunteer services are scrambling to keep pace and looking outside to fulfill their needs.
To address this issue, two Connecticut paramedics, Vincent Wheeler and Kevin Teeling created an EMT staffing service and founded Vintech in 1998.
Vintech’s mission is to attack the EMT shortage issue while enabling a town to improve its emergency medical response. Responding to over 3000 calls a year, Vintech supplements a town’s volunteer service staff so a town can focus on volunteer recruitment and retention.
The challenge
Vintech has grown from managing one town to fourteen. Due to their success, competition is beginning to appear. Staying ahead of the competition while maintaining or exceeding service levels, is Vintech’s newest challenge.
As the number of towns serviced by Vintech increases so too does the need for automation. Vintech could no longer rely on spreadsheets, white boards, phone calls and pagers.
To meet this challenge, Vintech tapped the technology and creative design of Visionary Studios
The Vintech System
Vintech had to understand what EMT resources were available and their certification levels. This information is constantly changing so keeping it current is a challenge. Visionary Studios created a web based system allowing EMTs access from virtually anywhere. This way an EMT could keep their availability current.
Towns and ambulance companies have access to the system too so they can specify their staffing needs. The system can then match a town’s need for service with the availability of qualified EMTs.
As the number of emergency calls increase, towns and ambulance companies must be proactive. Vintech’s system had to generate schedules in advance so gaps could be identified in advance.
With little or no margin of error any delays in emergency medical service can be costly. To tackle this issue, the system has a dynamic crisis management capability. Should an EMT be late for a shift, the system immediately notifies all responsible managers so immediate action can be taken.
Finally, time and attendance of each EMT is captured and computed for payroll purposes.
Managing more with less
In partnering with Visionary Studios, Vintech’s implementation of a web based system has allowed them to effectively manage EMT resources, create accurate schedules and better manage crises. Not only does this help Vintech stay ahead of the competition but they can manage more without sacrificing quality of service.
System highlights:
• Current information about EMT availability, certifications and performance
• Ability for towns or ambulance companies to list their staffing and fulfill their staffing needs.
• Auto-scheduling providing resource schedules 14 days in advance and highlighting gaps.
• Crisis management with automatically generated alerts to management
• Time and attendance capability
• Ability for anyone authorized with any device can access the system from virtually anywhere
