A new whitepaper from Mutualink provides timely and practical information for hospital emergency managers and government agencies to help devise preparedness strategies for dealing with the Ebola threat. The paper describes a secure, real-time information sharing and collaboration network that will enhance efforts by the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Patrol, the Center for Disease Control, and local, state and federal public safety and healthcare agencies as they seek to identify potentially infected individuals, track contacts and control the spread of the virus.

“Although great strides have been made to quickly put into place exit screening from affected countries and, most recently, entry screening in the United States for individuals entering the country from affected areas, more can be done to tighten the gaps in terms of communication and emergency preparedness,” according to the Mutualink whitepaper. “Inter-agency, cross-jurisdictional real-time collaboration will serve to enhance situational awareness among and between agencies involved in identifying, tracking and treating infected patients, regardless of where they enter the cycle.”

“Hospitals have made considerable improvements with regard to emergency preparedness over the last few years, but epidemics like Ebola present complex communication challenges,” said security expert Patrick V. Fiel. “Hospital emergency managers would do well to look to Mutualink for interoperable communications – not just during crises, but for everyday use.”

Whitepaper topics include:

• Description of the Infectious Disease Real-Time Detection and Response Network (i2DR), and how it can ensure expedient communications and situational awareness from the point of entry through the healthcare system and to the larger community.

• How real-time inter-agency communication in the form of voice, video, image and data sharing at the point of entry presents the best possibility for controlling the virus on United States soil.

• The importance of HIPPA compliance and security, given the highly sensitive nature of sharing information with a large number of parties, including airport security (and other intra-airport departments) and local law enforcement, the CDC, DHS CPB and the local healthcare community.

About Mutualink

Mutualink, Inc. has developed an interoperable communications platform that enables community-wide multimedia sharing of radio, voice, text, video, data files and telephone communications in a secure environment. Mutualink’s system is currently deployed by hundreds of public and private entities worldwide, including homeland security and defense installations, NATO Special Operations Forces, police and fire departments, transit authorities, hospitals, schools, universities, shopping malls, casinos, and more. Mutualink is a privately-held company headquartered in Wallingford, Conn., with R&D facilities in Westford, Mass. and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and Defense Services office near Washington, DC. For more information please visit www.mutualink.net.