A non-profit, cooperative effort to demonstrate an effective approach for interagency messaging for emergency response was launched on Wednesday, March 30, with many national emergency services organizations on board.

Partners in the National Emergency Alerting and Response Systems Initiative include the National Volunteer Fire Council, the American College of Emergency Physicians, APCO International and the International Association of Emergency Managers.

“There are more than 100,000 independent local, state, and federal emergency agencies. Today, the vast majority cannot share emergency data messages, much less other forms of data,” said Deputy Chief Barry Luke of the Orange County (Fla.) Fire Rescue Department.

NEARS partners plan to demonstrate and deploy interoperable emergency data messaging, using national emergency message and data standards, commercial information technologies, and a shared, electronic directory of agencies called the Emergency Provider Access Directory. This directory gives agencies the ability to register for emergency messages based on their geography, incident interest and agency type, enabling any authorized official, such as the sheriff, a governor or the President, to send data messages to them

“End-to-end data interoperability within the emergency response community is a critical goal," said Luke. "The shared directory of EPAD is a key part of that new vision.”

The three-track initiative has potential to help cut costs for emergency response agencies, improve the efficiency of emergency operations, and facilitate information sharing — allowing agencies to save time and lives within the communities they serve.

“The National Association of EMTs supports NEARS because it is important to improve our communications capability to get critical data in and out of emergency operations,” said Chief Will Chapleau, EMT-P, RN, TNS, of the Chicago Heights Fire Department.

Upon completion, NEARS partners expect that:

• Every emergency agency that participates by registering in EPAD will be able to send an emergency data message to any other emergency agency in the directory.
• Agencies will benefit by improving their preparedness planning and emergency event coordination efforts.
• Agencies will be able to send and receive external information into their current technology tools, so they do not lose that investment.
• NEARS will provide one approach for all-hazards emergency messaging, whether the communications are about mass emergencies or single events, and whether there is a need to contact other agencies, private entities or the public.
  

Other NEARS partners include the American Public Health Association, the Brain Injury Association of America, the Brain Trauma Foundation, the ComCARE Alliance, the Emergency Nurses Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute, the Emergency Interoperability Consortium the National Association of EMS Physicians, the National Association EMTs, the National Association of State EMS Directors, and the National Emergency Number Association.

For more information about the NEARS initiative, see www.comcare.org/nears or call 202-429-0574.