In situations where every minute counts, dispatchers in Elkhart County are now using a new app to make sure that Memorial Medflight helicopters respond as fast as possible.

The new app, called Metro Alert, allows dispatchers to request a Medflight helicopter quickly from their computer screens and monitor live updates of estimated arrival times, according to 95.3 MNC’s news partners The Elkhart Truth.

Metro Alert also allows dispatchers to focus on other phone calls they’re receiving in emergency situations while still keeping in contact with Medflight. Because of that, the Medflight response time has been cut by 3 to 5 minutes, according to flight nurse Becky Lahti.

“In trauma care we talk about the Golden Hour, where you want to get the patient to their definitive care as quickly as possible,” Lahti said. “If you can cut a few minutes off the front of that, it’s very important to us and to the patients.”

Elkhart County dispatchers have used the app for about two months and are happy with it.

Read more about how the app works and find out which dispatch center could start using the app next in the full story from The Elkhart Truth.