On Wednesday, January 23, 2008, Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center (RWECC) telecommunicators began dispatching EMS units throughout Wake County using real-time GPS information on exact ambulance location using Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) technology. The purpose of AVL is to get the nearest available ambulance to someone who's sick or injured.
"Before AVL, our dispatchers sent EMS units to calls based on which station was the closest," said EMS Chief Skip Kirkwood. "This system removes the guesswork so we now know which available ambulance is the closest to any given call. The beauty of this system is that it allows us to dispatch the closest ambulance, even if it's an ambulance that's in the vicinity of a medical emergency while on its way back to its station."
Each ambulance in the Wake County EMS system is equipped with an AVL laptop computer, which pinpoints the exact location of each ambulance for RWECC telecommunicators. The Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system then uses the information to automatically recommend the closest ambulance to the scene of a 9-1-1 call for help.
"In addition to the computer recommendation for the closest unit, we have real-time moving icons to represent the ambulances," said RWECC Director Barry Furey. "These images allow our staff to keep a visual perspective on what resources are where and that everything is working as it should."