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.
For more detailed information on StateComm duties, partnering agencies, and more, please refer to the sections below:
- Mission, Vision, Values
- StateComm Capabilities
- The EMS Role of StateComm
- Dispatch Notification Services
- Radio Interoperability
- Partnering Agencies
MISSION
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.
VISION
Core competent professionals, delivering excellence in emergency communications.
VALUES
We value communications, cooperation, accountability, trust, honesty, courage, and leadership.
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).
- 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.
- Search and rescue teams
- Idaho Transportation Department
- Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
- EMS, ground and air
- Idaho Office of Emergency Management
- State public health
- Local public health districts
- State laboratory
- Regional response hazmat teams
- Critical incident stress management
- Idaho Department of Agriculture
- State aeronautics
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Idaho Incident Management and Assistance Teams (IMAST)