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News release
07/20/2005
Chicago User Group A Great Success
When the decision was made to move the mid-west User Group - scheduled for June 22-24, 2005 - from its long-standing location of Decorah, Iowa to Chicago, Illinois, it was made with some hesitancy. Decorah, the home office location for the Sweet products, had been one of the best-attended locations for User Groups throughout the United States. However, a large city such as Chicago afforded many opportunities that a smaller city simply cannot, such as closer airports, more entertainment and attraction options.
Another major change for this years’ mid-west user group was the fact that it combined a Public Safety track, in addition to the existing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) tracks (segmented by beginning users, intermediate users and advanced users). One day of the Public Safety and EMS program overlapped, which provided a great networking opportunity for professionals within the three primary industries (fire, police and ambulance), as well as allowed for an entertaining program presented by Steve Berry, monthly humor columnist and cartoon illustrator for three Jems’ publications. Steve entertained his audience with his past experiences as a Paramedic and EMS Instructor as he intertwined his popular EMS-related cartoons into his presentation; Steve has published 9 books of EMS Cartoons.
The User Group content for the other days included both hands-on and lecture-style sessions. Fifty attendees participated in the EMS tracks, while another sixteen participated in the Public Safety track. The content of this year’s EMS tracks was expanded based on past attendee feedback. Several new sessions were offered, such as:
* Field Data-Memoir’s from Trainers and Users (Overview of the Sweet-Field Data program and round table discussion with other users designed to give customers the ability to ask questions and make suggestions)
* Trevor’s Cliff Notes On Awesome Reports (designed to give you tips on a variety of reports that can be created)
* Where’s Ortivus Technology Heading (introduced the next BIG THING –three way integration, Runsheet improvements, the new Microsoft-Longhorn platform)
* Dispatch Discussion….Tools, Tip and Troubleshooting
* Where’s The Money?....Electronic Claims”, and “Management’s Favorite Time-Saving Tools
The Public Safety sessions were all new, including topics such as:
* CAD/AVL Report Functionality
* AVeL-MobiCAD – Usages And Innovations
* Advanced AVL Usage And New Features
* How RMS Can Help Streamline Operations
* New Technologies – What Innovations Affect Emergency Services?
* Troubleshooting 101
Attendees of the 2005 Chicago User Group were quite pleased with the program, as a few of them commented below:
Estella Myrick, Nodaway County Ambulance District, Maryville, Missouri
” All of the instructors were incredibly knowledgeable. If they could not answer your question, then they quickly found someone who could. Not only were the structured classes very informative, but the instructors would also go out of their way to answer questions about individual departments and issues. Overall, a great learning experience; our department is all ready seeing the benefits.”
Mike Sloan, Rochester Police Department / Olmsted County SO, Rochester, Minnesota
“I was pleased to see Ortivus initiate a [public safety] User Group Conference. Attending the Ortivus User Group Conference gave me an opportunity to network with other Ortivus Customers and equally important, personally meet key Ortivus Staff and build a working relationship with them. I believe Ortivus has a unique product that benefits public safety personnel and the citizens they protect and serve.”
Kim Kennedy, Southwest EMS, Inc., Mena, Arkansas
“Thank you for the opportunity to comment on our seminar in Chicago. Kathy has an excellent knowledge of Ortivus/Sweet and I would encourage all Users from beginners to advanced levels to attend these seminars. We, as Providers face the multiple requirements and constant changes associated with Medicare, Medicaid and Third Party Insurance. Ortivus/Sweet does an outstanding job of keeping us updated and current with the never-ending changes. Thanks Kathy and Ross for a job well done!”
In addition to the Chicago User Group, two others were offered in 2005 including the San Francisco User Group – April 4-6, and the upcoming Atlanta User Group – November 2-4. Ortivus North America (NA) has already started planning its 2006 Chicago User Group, which is expected to even surpass the success of this year’s event. To reserve your seat at the 2006 Chicago User Group or the 2005 Atlanta User Group, contact Ortivus NA at 800-537-3927.
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About Ortivus:
Ortivus offers integrated software solutions for Emergency Medical Services and Public Safety. The North American Subsidiary develops and markets the following pre-hospital applications: EMS billing, patient care reporting, computer-aided dispatch, automatic vehicle location, mobile data application, and patient vital signs monitoring and data transmission.
The Ortivus vision is to be the customer’s preferred provider of integrated information and decision-making software support systems in the Emergency Medical Service, Public Safety and Healthcare industries.
Ortivus operates out of two North American corporate office locations (Decorah, Iowa, US and Montreal, Quebec, Canada), as well as several international locations (Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Great Britain).