Gloucester County EMS uses TCP Aladtec scheduling software to streamline its scheduling and boost efficiency

Gloucester County EMS Expands and Thrives with Automated Scheduling

Nestled in the heart of southern New Jersey, Gloucester County blends suburban charm with expansive natural beauty. The Delaware River to the west offers serene waterfront views, while several parks and green spaces allow residents to gather for outdoor activities. The county is home to the vibrant small towns of Woodbury and Glassboro but boasts tremendous community support from residents with a strong sense of civic pride. A strong sense of civic pride is also emulated within Gloucester County’s EMS department—serving 23 out of 24 municipalities with over 260 dedicated employees and responding from 20 stations with 50 staff response vehicles. Gloucester County EMS credits its growth of improved operations and service alongside 17 years of continued use of Aladtec, a public safety-centric workforce management solution from TCP Software

CHALLENGE

Before adopting Aladtec, Gloucester County EMS relied on outdated and error-prone methods for workforce scheduling.

“We scheduled using an Excel spreadsheet, which we would post on the bulletin board,” Lovell recalls. “The moment we hit print, that document was out of date,” recalls Gloucester County Chief Andy Lovell. “It went up on the board with strikethroughs and cross-outs. It was an incredibly inefficient and frustrating scheduling process.”

Managing schedule changes, time-off requests, and shift trades were also cumbersome and error-prone with manual processes, making it harder to deliver the high level of service Gloucester County EMS strives for. Lovell and department managers recognized a need for real-time updates, flexibility, and a streamlined scheduling process for a growing department with an increasing number of employees and shifts.

A GAME-CHANGING SOLUTION

The department implemented TCP’s public safety employee scheduling solution, Aladtec, in 2007 and paved the way for success in their scheduling process. Aladtec provides the level of flexibility Gloucester County EMS needs, from offering greater transparency and options in scheduling, to managing and maintaining compliance. The automation provided by Aladtec has eliminated the manual burden on the team, allowing them to focus on their primary mission: providing excellent emergency care.

BOOSTING EFFICIENCY WITH MOBILE OPTIONS

Aladtec’s impact on Gloucester County EMS employees runs deep, improving both scheduling efficiency and employee satisfaction. With multiple customer interfaces across desktops and mobile versions, supervisors now have the flexibility to make on-the-fly schedule changes directly from the field, and employees can manage their schedules at their convenience.

“Our employees can pick up shifts, submit time-off requests, and trade shifts with their coworkers, all from their smartphones,” Lovell adds. “They can even plan vacations years in advance by checking the schedule to see what days they need to request off.”

User-friendly systems are essential for Gloucester County EMS department, which operates with a dispersed workforce across multiple stations and response vehicles. The mobile accessibility of the platform allows employees to view their schedules, trade shifts with coworkers, and stay on top of their responsibilities from any location, at any time. This versatility has been a game-changer for the department, empowering their often on-the-go employees to have greater control over their work-life balance.

IMPROVED CERTIFICATION MANAGEMENT

Manually navigating the complexities of state certification and regulatory requirements limited consistencies for Gloucester County EMS in the past. Gone are the days of searching for printed paperwork or calling different agencies.

Aladtec’s records management feature allows the department to set the parameters for required certifications and track expiration dates, automatically generating reports and sending email reminders to employees as their certifications approach expiration.
“It generates reports like ‘the following five guys’ paramedic certification expires in the next month,’ and sends email reminders to those individuals,” Lovell explains.
Gloucester County EMS also utilizes Aladtec’s online form capabilities for forms such as vehicle checks and inventory checklists, as well as documentation storage for policies and procedures. All employees have 24-hour access to important documents, policies, and certifications. Reliable access ensures that employees are always informed and compliant with necessary regulations, enhancing the department’s consistency and accuracy.

BUILT FOR GROWTH: SCALABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY

As Gloucester County EMS has expanded over the years, so too has its need for a scalable and adaptable workforce management system. Aladtec has proven to be the best fit, swiftly accommodating the agency’s growth.

“When we started, we had 10 crews on duty at a time. Now, we sometimes have as many as 27 crews,” Lovell notes. “The product scales to whatever level we need it to be.”

Scalability was put to the test during the COVID-19 pandemic when the department ran an extensive vaccination site, using Aladtec to schedule healthcare practitioners for a SuperVax site to vaccinate nearly 500,000 people. The system’s flexibility allowed the department to manage their pivotal operation smoothly, reducing the administrative burden on the staff and freeing them up to focus on more pressing tasks to check people in and make sure resident vaccination needs were met.

RELIABILITY FOR THE FUTURE

Aladtec has grown alongside Gloucester County EMS over the past 17 years, empowering the growing workforce to manage schedules, automate tasks, and provide top-tier care to the community. With scheduling automation, certification document storage, and compliance management capabilities, Aladtec’s multiple features provide sustainability for the department to continue forward for many years to come. Lovell notes that Gloucester County EMS continues to evaluate other solutions annually as part of their due diligence, but Aladtec remains their top choice due to its reliability and unmatched functionality.

“It’s become part of the foundation of what we do every day,” Lovell says. “The platform’s flexibility, scalability, and user-friendly interface have made it the go-to solution for managing everything from schedules to certifications.”

He points out that Aladtec automates and streamlines processes in ways that manual methods simply can’t match and uplifts the department to focus on what truly matters—providing consistent lifesaving care to the residents of Gloucester County.

“In 17 years, we’ve never moved anywhere else, and I expect to retire having never left this product,” says Lovell. “Once you move into this product, you’ll never go back.”