Side-by-Side with Public Safety: FirstNet Apps Integral in First Responder COVID-19 Response Efforts

The COVID-19 public health crisis is creating a wave of change in how society operates. While consumers are using more apps to manage working from home and helping their children with distance learning, stay engaged and entertained, public safety agencies across the country are using the FirstNet App Catalog as they adjust and modify their response to COVID-19.

First responders are using this dedicated technology and app ecosystem to respond to routine and emergency situations every day in communities large and small. And as public safety’s partner, FirstNet is helping first responders efficiently and effectively coordinate and communicate their emergency response. The catalog identifies more than 100 highly secure apps tested for public safety that can help cost-effectively enhance their situational awareness and other capabilities. Here are just a few examples:

• Response for FirstNet (by Intrepid) – An EMS agency in Connecticut is using the Response for FirstNet app for day-to-day operations and incident response management. With the app, the agency rapidly manages daily operations, segregates specific response operations for weather-related events, segregates data from training operations and communicates accurate information to all its responders. The agency created a specific channel dedicated to COVID-19-related information. This information includes status updates on the spread of the virus, best practices to keep medics safe while responding to calls, and information relating to the acquisition of specific equipment related to COVID-19 issues.
• GD e-Bridge – General Devices has made available its e-Bridge mobile telemedicine app with highly secure video telehealth and a COVID-19 Virus Screening module. This makes it possible for EMS and hospital providers to consult, assess and manage patients remotely to protect personnel and limit exposure. FirstNet customers Baystate Health in Massachusetts and AtlantiCare in New Jersey are using the GD e-Bridge telehealth video and screening module as part of their COVID-19 response and management.
• Pulsara – Pulsara allows networked communication across an entire community, including live video and messaging, and is providing their app at no charge to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. Regions across the U.S. are enabling Pulsara to help mitigate patient surges, limit transfers to clinically appropriate cases, minimize exposure to other patients and clinicians, conserve scarce supplies of Personal Protective Equipment, and secure communication for outpatients in isolation (quarantine).
• 10-21 Police Phone (by Callyo) – A sheriff’s office in south central Texas is using FirstNet and the 10-21 Police Phone app for their COVID-19 response. The 10-21 Police Phone app allows officers and deputies to place free phone calls to citizens using an unblocked number, thus the call is more likely to be answered. It also protects the officer’s existing number, allows officers to connect citizens to dispatch when off duty and can provide push notifications when called back. This is aiding the sheriff’s deputies by giving them easy access to contact citizens and manage non-emergency situations.

FirstNet is built for public safety, for every first responder in the country - career or volunteer; federal, state, local or tribal; urban, suburban or rural. As men and women across the country stand on the front lines to support our nation's response to COVID-19, they know, with confidence, FirstNet delivers the unthrottled connectivity and priority communications they require, when and where they need it, to respond during this public health emergency. This type of unparalleled emergency support distinguishes FirstNet, public safety's network, from other wireless networks built for commercial use.

Serving public safety is our mission. It's our obligation and honor to earn public safety's trust day in and day out. And that only happens by delivering on the bipartisan vision of Congress and the first responder community, and effectively serving as public safety's true communications network partner.

For FirstNet subscribers seeking to request FirstNet support, call 1-800-574-7000. And to learn more about FirstNet, go to www.firstnet.com.