Founded in 1983, Information Station Specialists is the nation's sole domestically owned source for Information Radio Station and Advisory Sign systems that allow public agencies to broadcast safety and service messages to motorists.
 
 
  July 2010
case studies | news | techtalk
Public Health & Safety Agencies Find Creative Applications for Portable Radio Stations

It's been two years since Ventura County, California, requested ISS to design a portable radio station that could be used in public health, emergency and public event applications to inform and protect the public. Below are a few creative ways public agencies and health care professionals have employed the resulting RadioSTAT product since then.
 

Jim McClanahan
Director of Safety
Porter Health
Valparaiso, IN


Motorists are alerted to tune to specific AM frequencies by portable signs.


RadioSTAT stations may be installed in a fixed location then quickly transported when and where needed.

Each station typically covers a 25-75 square-mile listening area.

Stations are priced so agencies can afford more than one to serve multiple POD deployments or large scale emergency situations.

See a complete RadioSTAT overview with planning and pricing details -
PDF DOWNLOAD.

See also "Related Links" at the bottom of this webpage for more.


Big county, Big Public Information Challenge

Sweetwater County, an 11,000 square-mile district in Wyoming, plans to use three RadioSTAT units to get emergency messages "to the public who miss receiving information from other sources." States Sweetwater's coordinator of emergency management Judy Valentine:  "We will provide continued updated information using these systems; and, in addition, we will deploy them when we activate our mobile command post or CERT animal rescue, shelter or other volunteer teams. We also plan to use them for civic and public health events, disaster exercises and a multitude of other activities. We're fairly certain we will find more uses for them than [first] imagined possible." Sweetwater County funded their RadioSTAT purchase through an Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) and County funds on a 50/50 split.


Public Health Points of distribution (PODs)

Los Angeles County has a roaming RadioSTAT portable station, deployable anywhere within this populous area on a moment's notice to inform motorists queuing at vaccine distribution points. Public health departments in seven states now have this capability with some counties operating as many as seven stations. Comments Allen County emergency preparedness director Brad Witte:  "We will use the RadioSTAT radio to provide the citizens of Allen County, Indiana, with public health information in conjunction with field clinics that we might need to set up in response to public health emergencies, such as the recent pandemic. These instructions will include directions to our field clinics, information on how to proceed through the clinics and what to expect once they arrive, as well as medical information about the public health emergency and where to obtain further information." Allen County used an H1N1 grant to fund purchase of their equipment.


Homeland Security Region Embraces RadioSTAT Program – Shared Statewide

Adjacent counties in West Virginia comprising Homeland Security Region 4 now employ eight independent RadioSTAT systems. Each station has a fixed antenna allowing it to operate at a specific site in each county and a portable FCC license so it can roam anywhere in West Virginia when requested, on an as-needed basis. States Marvin Hill of Randolph County Emergency Management: "We intend to use the product to provide emergency information to the public. During emergency and or disastrous situations we will provide information on the event and safety rules to follow to protect the lives and property of our residents and/or visitors. During non-life threatening events, [to inform and educate the public and develop an on-air presence] we will provide information on general conditions throughout the County [that might affect travel in the areas served]."


Emergency Health Advisories

Porter Health stands ready to use RadioSTAT to inform inbound hospital patrons in the next pandemic or similar emergency. Porter Health operates two campuses in Porter County, Indiana, that will share use of the system as needed.

Event Information Stations

Ottawa County, Michigan, was the first to use the new RadioSTATIP system that features network connectivity. County emergency manager Bill Smith tasked the System to advise visitors of public safety issues at major events, such as Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan, with more than 30,000 attendees each year, as well as the National Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven, Michigan, which attracts more than 350,000 annually. Such deployments gain the System public exposure – key to its use in an emergency scenario. Smith states: "I am very impressed with the capabilities and potential of this unit and have had very good feedback each time it has been in service."

Federal Agency Fights Fire

The Bureau of Land Management in Salt Lake City, Utah, plans to use RadioSTAT for wildfire emergency information in the northwest part of the State. Stations will be moved as required by current fire locations and wind direction. According to the BLM's Marshall Thompson, "RadioSTAT will be keeping the public informed about ongoing fires and land management projects in their areas. We manage over a million acres in our district, so being able to transport the radio system between incidents and projects is key for us." RadioSTAT is in use by a number of fire protection districts in the West for similar applications. See a recent article by Ronny Coleman that appeared in Fire Chief Magazine regarding RadioSTAT, entitled "RadioSTAT Offers Lost Piece of Interoperability."
Related Links
  • Complete Overview with Planning & Pricing Details - PDF.
  • RadioSTAT Mainpage webPage.
  • FASTrack Portable Signs for Portable Applications Webpage.
  • Flashing ALERT Signs for Fixed Applications Webpage.
  • Ventura County Case Study Webpage.
  • Vertical Profile Antenna System for Fixed Locations webPage.
  • What May Be Broadcast webpage.
 
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3368 88th Avenue, PO Box 51, Zeeland, Michigan, USA, 49464-0051
Phone 616.772.2300, Fax 2966,
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US Patents: PowerPlane "Flex" Factory-Assembled Groundplane (#5,495,261), Vertical Profile Antenna System (#7,027,008)
US Pending Patent: RadioSTAT Portable Emergency Radio Station (#12/616,852)

Registered Trademarks: ALERT AM®, PowerPlane®, RoadRunnR®, StationMaster®, Stylized ®

Pending Trademarks: RadioSTAT and SignalcastIP

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