The Idaho State EMS Communications Center, more commonly known as StateComm, is a 24/7 emergency communications center in Meridian, Idaho. StateComm is a component of the Bureau of EMS and Preparedness in the Division of Public Health and provides emergency dispatch and communications for EMS, Idaho Department of Transportation, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Hazardous Material incidents, Public Health emergencies, AMBER Alerts and many other situations and scenarios. The mission of StateComm is to provide high-quality and efficient communications support for the public, government agencies, and emergency responders through the coordination of resources contributing to the health and safety of Idaho residents and communities.
For more detailed information on StateComm duties, partnering agencies, and more, please refer to the sections below:
- The EMS Role of StateComm
- Capabilities
- Partnering Agencies
- Emergency communication officers (ECO) are certified emergency medical dispatchers (EMD) providing callers with pre-arrival medical instructions until EMS units arrive at the scene.
- StateComm relays patient and scene information, deploys additional resources, and tracks EMS units when their primary dispatch is out of radio contact.
- In the event of a mass casualty incident, StateComm will provide hospital bed status to the incident commander. StateComm will also hold a conference call with the hospitals, briefing them on the incident and coordination of patient transports with real time information.
- StateComm monitors all EMS and hospital radio traffic on EMS Frequency 1 and Frequency 2.
StateComm's Capabilities
EMS Radio communications statewide
- 41 Statewide EMS mountaintop base stations (Frequency 1 and Frequency 2)
- EMS Dispatch in 16 Rural Communities
- Provide rural 911 callers with medical instructions prior to EMS arriving on scene via Priority Dispatch.
- Communicate patient information to EMS prior to their arrival and coordinates air medical response if necessary.
- Coordinate Critical Incident Stress Management responses
- Status monitoring of hospital bed availability, mass casualty coordination
- Status monitoring of state highway conditions and dispatch of ITD units
- Pre-hospital death tissue referral notification coordination
- Logging Emergency Incident Coordination
- Hazardous Materials and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) contact point
- Railroad incident point of contact
- Primary notification point for the National Alert Warning System (NAWAS).
- Public Health incident contact point for hospitals, state and local health districts.
- Primary activation point for the Idaho Emergency Alert System (EAS) to disseminate civil emergency alerts, AMBER, Blue, and Endangered Missing Person Alerts via radio and television.
- Direct contact with 44 county sheriff’s offices and Idaho State Police (ISP).