Illinois fire district decreases loss-of-life and property loss through InFocus Mondopad meetings

Addison firefighters save travel time and taxpayer funds with remote training via annnotatable video conference

The following content is sponsored by InFocus

Firefighters leaving the station in an emergency evokes images of the crew scrambling to put on their jumpsuits and helmets, sliding down poles, bright red lights flashing and sirens blaring. But sometimes departments need to use the engine and other fire district vehicles more like shuttle buses, to transport firefighters from one station to another for meetings and trainings. Such was the case in the Addison Fire Protection District (AFD) outside Chicago, until recently when it implemented a new system designed to save time, resources and taxpayer money.

The Challenge
Travelling to and from trainings is costly in fuel for the fire engines and travel time, but having the crew together for training is critical to assess strategies and tactics at fire scenes. AFD needed to keep its personnel at their respective stations and ready to serve its community of about 35,000 while still holding important collaborative trainings.

The Solution
Each of the three AFD stations installed a 55-inch InFocus Mondopad. The high-definition touchscreen device enables an AFD trainer to:

1) Concurrently engage all three crews in each of their stations face-to-face
2) Share a presentation, picture or whiteboard
3) Collaborate using Mondopad’s built-in annotation tools

The trainer can also invite the attendees in other stations to interact and mark on the documents from their local Mondopad in real time. Additionally, the Mondopad supports screen sharing with any other standardized video conferencing system; a valuable feature for those who may not use Mondopads.

The Results
AFDs firefighters use the Mondopads regularly and its video conferencing and annotation capabilities allow the entire district to meet and train collectively, while remaining at their respective stations. Essentially, the devices have helped save tax-payer dollars and ensure quick response to emergencies, which saves lives and property.

"Mondopad being the all-inclusive unit it is — a computer and a video conferencing system — saves money and it saves time. The Mondopad’s been a phenomenal benefit for our fire protection district...loss-of-life, loss-of-property has been decreased.”

— Joe Grandolfo, Asst. IT Manager, AFD

____

To watch a live, on-demand demonstration, visit InFocus Mondopad online here .
To download a PDF version of this case study, click here .