An Eye on Safety

Safety is of paramount importance for EMS providers, and with Digital Ally’s DVM-250 Video Event Data Recorder (VEDR), providers always have someone watching their back.

That’s especially important for Pafford EMS, based in Hope, AR. In 2005 Pafford EMS lost three crew members when their ambulance was struck by a train, says Clay Hobbs, Pafford’s director of communications. “Safety has been at our forefront since that point. And Digital Ally just made sense. Whatever we had to do to make sure the employees are safe, we’re doing it.”

Hobbs says Pafford EMS has integrated the Digital Ally DVM-250 VEDR with the ZOLL Road Safety System, allowing the camera system to activate automatically whenever an event occurs. “When we have an incident we get camera footage from 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after the event,” he explains. “So, not only do we know that there was an event, such as a hard stop or excessive g-forces, but we can see it in full color. We don’t have to speculate on what happened—we have the proof.” And, notes Hobbs, the Digital Ally system lets Pafford download information wirelessly through its existing network, eliminated the need for any new infrastructure or hardware.

Another feature that appealed to Pafford EMS was the ease of installation and maintenance that comes with the Digital Ally VEDR. “We service four states,” says Hobbs, “so the installation and maintenance of the device was extremely important to us because we didn’t want to have to send someone out from our corporate office every time we had an upgrade or a maintenance issue with the device.”

Digital Ally’s DVM-250 VEDR is designed with the entire video system integrated into a rear-view mirror in order to minimize space usage and not interfere with the driver’s line of sight. The system easily replaces the factory mirror, if present, or the DVM-250 may be installed in alternate locations. The DVM-250Plus model additionally features a compact interface box to allow for more automatic recording trigger options and recording from up to 8 different cameras.

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