Boosting Response Time

Idesco helps EMTs keep the heartbeat of New York’s emergency management system going

• By Monique Merhige
• Sep 01, 2015

The Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York City (NYC REMSCO) is a not-for-profit corporation whose main function is to enhance emergency medical services for the five New York boroughs. Since its inception in 1974, NYC REMSCO has worked closely with all emergency responders throughout New York City to improve response time and safety measures. The main goal is to coordinate the emergency medical services of New York City in order to decrease the excessive rates of death/disability brought on by sudden accident and illness.

In addition, the council ensures that all persons living, working and visiting New York City have the availability to prompt and effective emergency care. The main challenge that NYC REMSCO faced was being able to ensure that each paramedic and EMT could be identified quickly along with his or her level of service.

Proper Identification

It was important that all EMT workers wore the proper identification to help keep them safe and secure on the job, and allow hospitals and other facilities to recognize them quickly. NYC REMSCO needed a company that could provide identification badges, printers and accessories quickly—in a New York minute. There was no downtime allowed for the busy Emergency Medical Response System in New York.

In 2001, around the time of 9/11, Nancy A. Benedetto, executive director of administration at Regional EMS Council of NYC started working with Andy Goldstone, vice president of strategic sales at Idesco Corp. Idesco was highly recommended by a local NYC fire department that ordered all their ID badges from the company. As a security systems integrator for more than 71 years, Idesco was well known as the company to call when the goal was to provide a safer environment and facility for your employees.

“We were looking for a durable solution to print secure ID badges. Andy Goldstone recommended the Zebra P720 printer and was available to answer all the questions that we had.” Benedetto said.

NYC REMSCO quickly started printing badges internally for the city’s EMT’s and paramedics. Each badge contains the person’s name, level of service, date of birth, photo ID, barcode and ID number. With as many as 8,000 badges printed on average, it was important to have the right support to meet their growing needs.

By verifying the identity of each EMT or paramedic quickly, it helped eliminate any downtime and delays in verifying a person’s identity; thus more time to help a sick or injured person recover from their injury/sickness. In addition, it also prevents unauthorized visitors and theft of assets; thus saving hospitals money.

Counting the Benefits

Over the years, the EMS Council of NYC has seen considerable benefits from using Idesco’s ID card solutions. EMT’s who are wearing their badges are easily identified around New York City.

The council worked closely with Idesco and ordered custom holograms to add another level of security to their cards. A custom film designed specifically to meet a company’s requirements ensures a unique design that cannot be duplicated. Custom holograms protect cards and card data against falsification and forgery, abrasion and other physical and chemical assaults.

NYC REMSCO worked with Idesco to get their unique custom holograms and got exactly what they needed to eliminate the risk of counterfeiting, tampering, and duplication of their cards. If anyone tries to alter the card by peeling the lamination back, the lamination pulls the printed card design off the card as well, making the card unusable.

“Idesco’s follow-up and turnaround time on getting us the ID Badges over the last few years was remarkable,” Benedetto said. “For over 15 years, our council has been relying on Idesco to advise us on the best ID card solutions and has not let us down. We are also excited to work with them on our new customized hologram laminates for an extra layer of protection.”

This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of Security Today.