Triage Tag Maker Supplies Order Amid Disasters
Dennis and Ken Ortiz are in the business of disaster.
The Ortiz brothers, both captains for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, run a small business that provides tools emergency crews can use to turn chaos into order.
“What’s bad for everybody else is good for our business,” said Dennis, the older of the brothers and co-founder of Pomona-based Disaster Management Systems Inc.
The idea behind their company’s main product is straightforward: When disaster strikes -- whether it’s a major traffic collision, a terrorist attack or an earthquake -- firefighters and paramedics need a quick and efficient way to organize injured victims, prioritizing those who are most injured. The Ortiz brothers took the triage tag, a basic product already in use by many emergency responders around the country to designate urgency of care, and took it one step further.
From their experience in the field, they found that keeping track of a large number of people with different levels of injury was a nightmare. By placing bar codes on the tags, the brothers envisioned an information technology system that could help paramedics and doctors track patients from the scene of the accident to the hospital room.
The two turned their vision into reality by teaming with other small technology-based companies to create software that can analyze and sort the information on the tags. Around the country, local governments are testing and implementing tracking systems using the brothers’ All Risk Triage Tag.
The Ortiz brothers are not alone. Disaster Management Systems is one of many companies that have flourished after disasters.
“Whenever you have disasters of the proportion of 9/11, the Katrina and Rita hurricanes or the Northridge earthquake in ‘94, you do have entrepreneurs rise to the occasion,” said Frank Brancale, spokesman for the Los Angeles office of the Small Business Administration.
The number of companies catering to disastrous situations -- providing emergency preparedness kits, debris cleanup and other products and services -- has grown dramatically. Last month, the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Fla., drew 170 exhibitors, nearly double last year’s roster of companies. Coordinators expect 300 at next year’s conference, which draws law enforcement, fire and medical officials.
“There were new companies I’ve never seen or heard of before,” said Teri Besse, exhibit coordinator for the conference.
Attendance at EMS Expo, an emergency supplies conference and trade show catering to emergency and rescue units, has been increasing as well, said Dave Caplin, manager of the show, which is in its 18th year. The trade show, to be held in Las Vegas in September, has seen a surge in technologically infused products.
“Technology has become more sophisticated in almost every product category,” Caplin said. “Communications is definitely a key element. These days, we have computers installed in ambulances -- five years ago, that was never there.”
Federal money pouring into state and local coffers has intensified the innovation.
In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security established a grant program for terrorism preparedness to help states, counties and cities hire and train planning personnel and buy equipment. Since the establishment of the program, Los Angeles County has received more than $230 million designated for disaster spending in fire, police and health departments, said Chris Bertelli, spokesman for the California Department of Homeland Security.
Torrance-based Disaster Management Solutions Inc., which has worked with the Ortiz brothers to create scanners and software for the triage tags, is testing patient tracking systems around the country.
“Prior to 9/11, nobody was doing electronic patient tracking,” said Jay O’Donnell, chief executive of Disaster Management Solutions. “Federal grant money has enabled this kind of thing to happen. This has allowed [local governments] to start the process of getting up to speed.”
The Ortiz brothers incorporated their company in 1999, initially teaming with the California Fire Chiefs Assn. to distribute the waterproof paper tag -- a partnership that has proved enormously successful. With an established firefighters organization involved, their tag gained clout and a network of potential customers.
But it wasn’t until Sept. 11 heightened the nation’s disaster-preparedness concerns that Disaster Management Systems’ business really took off. The company now relies on a variety of distributors to sell its tags, which are used by fire departments, paramedic crews and hospitals around the nation.
In 2005, Disaster Management Systems posted $1.1 million in sales, but the competition is growing, Dennis Ortiz said. There are a few other triage tag manufacturers, and some state and county governments have even developed their own.
“We’re trying to stay ahead of the sleeping giant,” he said.
One of the oldest developers of triage tags, the American Civil Defense Assn. of Draper, Utah, also has seen sales of its basic triage tag soar, said Sharon Packer, president of the board of the nonprofit organization. The group sold an average of 14,000 general-use triage tags a month last year; this year, the monthly average has climbed to 20,500. Sales of its biological-chemical contamination tags have averaged 18,000 a month this year, Packer added.
By comparison, Disaster Management Systems sells more than 1 million tags a year, the company said.
To stay ahead of the game, the Ortiz brothers and their partner, Robert Mudd, are working with VerdaSee Solutions Inc., a Langhorne, Pa.-based company, to develop triage tags embedded with radio frequency identification technology, or RFID, chips. A firetruck or paramedics van equipped with a portable scanner could send a radio signal that hits the chip and bounces back with more information than a bar code could ever hold, said Reuben Vasquez, CEO of VerdaSee Solutions.
The city of Anaheim has contracted with the companies to implement an RFID system using the All Risk Triage Tags within the next few months, Vasquez said.
As they sat in their cramped office, the three partners said they were still amazed at how their product had spread. A U.S. map posted on the wall was dotted with small white flags representing sales to emergency operations in locations across the country. Their product line has expanded to include emergency response kits for schools and hospitals, as well as decontamination supplies.
“It’s been a heck of a ride,” Dennis Ortiz said.
“This sector is really looking to expand.”
