St. Vincent's Blount Hospital in Oneonta AL is now operational with an advanced version of the Hospital Emergency Administrative Radio (HEAR) system. The original HEAR system concept, initiated in the 70's was designed to provide direct access from ambulance and field EMT's to hospital emergency rooms. The idea was, and is, to coordinate the activities relating to incoming patients.
In recent years, cell phones we used as the primary patient responder to trauma care center personnel until it was found that cellular systems overload and become ineffective in times ot true emergency. The need was apparent for a restoration and upgrade of the HEAR system; first to bring it to an operational status, then to come into compliance with FCC narrow band operating standards, and ultimately to bring the system into compliance with HIPAA (Patient Privacy) requirements.
