By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — The Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service has a new way to transmit vital information about patients en route to the hospital.

When minutes really count in emergencies, a new software system can prepare the hospital for incoming patients via high-speed transmission of medical data and other information, according to Marc Hartog, deputy director of WVEMS.

At Wednesday’s Board of Selectwomen meeting, Hartog presented an agreement between the town of Westport and Pulsara, a business providing the new communications system. The selectwomen approved the agreement unanimously.

The Pulsara system will transmit information immediately from emergency medical technicians riding with a patient in an ambulance to the hospital, describing the person’s specific condition and needs, giving the hospital staff time to prep necessary equipment and treatments for to the patient without delay when the ambulance pulls in, Hartog explained.

In the past, EMTs provided the patient’s vital information verbally, leaving room for misunderstanding and some delay.

The first level of the communication system, which Westport EMS will be using, is free, Hartog said. If the town ultimately decides to move to the second-level Pulsara system, there might be a charge he said.

But for now, “it’s a free tool for us,” he told the selectwomen.

The Puslsara system is compliant with HIPAA laws, which protect a patient’s privacy, and information entered into the system will not by shared by the system software, Hartog said.

The Westport EMS will still use verbal communication without the Pulsara system when transporting patients to Bridgeport or St. Vincent’s hospitals, he said. Norwalk Hospital has been using Pulsara for four months, but Hartford HealthCare, which operates St. Vincent’s Medical Center, and Bridgeport Hospital, which is under the umbrella of Yale New Haven Health, use a different electronic communications system, he said.

The hope is that all towns and hospitals in the region will eventually use the same system, improving communications efficiency, Hartog said. However, patients can be assured that, as in the past, ambulance personnel will relay the proper information to a hospital no matter what system is used, he added.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.