Dorchester County to replace camera system in EMS vehicles

CAMBRIDGE — Dorchester County Emergency Medical Services is replacing the video and tracking system in its vehicles.

At a Dorchester County Council meeting on Sept. 3, the council voted to allow the department to proceed with replacing the current system. The new system, which is from software company Samsara, will save the county a little over $2,000.

Dorchester County EMS Division Chief Debbie Wheedleton said the cameras only show the front of the ambulance, including the driver and passenger as well as out the front window. The video footage is live streamed, she said.

The Samsara system not only notifies via email if there is a problem with a camera, but also if a crash is detected or if a driver isn’t wearing their seatbelt or is texting and driving.

“It takes a picture and sends it to you,” she said. “This old system will tell you they don’t have a seatbelt on, but it doesn’t have a picture. You don’t know who’s driving.”

Council President Lenny Pfeffer said the new system sounds beneficial for the safety and security of the providers and the people they are taking care of in the back of the ambulance.

“And also help in the unfortunate event of a possible accident or something where we have data as well as visual to show whether or not we were at fault or what happened,” he said. “So it sounds like this could be very useful to help minimize our risk involved with our employees.”

Wheedleton also talked about the new system’s maintenance alerts. She said that while the current system gives some maintenance information, the new system will send codes to let the department know what is wrong with a vehicle so that maintenance can be scheduled.

“Well that sounds like that could save us a lot of money too,” Pfeffer said in response.

The new system will cost a little over $13,500 and come out of fiscal year 2025 operating budget funds. No further charges will be incurred, according to the request from EMS.