PSERN Overview
The Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network (PSERN) organization was created to manage the replacement of the aging King County Emergency Radio System. PSERN is tasked with upgrading and maintaining the new replacement public safety radio network which provides services to Fire Departments, Police Departments, MedicOne, Healthcare organizations, and other regional government organizations in its service area.
King County voters approved a $273 million bond measure Project in April 2015 which created the PSERN organization to implement the new system with King County acting as the lead agency for planning, procurement, financing, and implementation. A new non-profit corporation will be formed to assume the ownership and control of the PSERN System following Full System Acceptance. This system is authorized under an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement entered into by King County and the Cities of Auburn, Bellevue, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Redmond, Renton, Seattle, and Tukwila. The City of Seattle, Eastside Public Safety Communications Agency (EPSCA), King County Regional Communications Board, and Valley Communications Center (ValleyCom) are also partners in the system.
The existing emergency radio system was designed in 1992 for King County. This 20 years old system now needs to be replaced to accommodate King County’s growing population and to update aging radio equipment. Over the years, the population throughout the region has grown steadily with residents living in expanded areas creating coverage challenges for the system. To address these issues, the PSERN Project is upgrading and adding towers throughout the planned service area and refreshing radios for system users.
PSERN supplies King County hospitals with Public Safety radios to communicate on the emergency radio network with local government, emergency responders, and other regional hospitals. Harborview Medical Center in its role as the primary DMCC (Disaster Medical Coordination Center) hospital uses this radio system when communicating with other hospitals to coordinate the healthcare response in a disaster or emergency situation.
PSERN Website – https://psern.org/
Please see the PSERN website for additional information, updates on the current status of the project, and other useful information.
PSERN Radio Replacement Program for Healthcare
As part of the PSERN Project, 800 MHz emergency radio upgrade project healthcare organization’s paying current airtime fees for emergency radios will be eligible for equipment replacement. PSERN will replace the equipment based on inventories of radios for which an organization is paying current airtime fees and which were identified on an inventory based on information turned in by your organization.
See the PSERN website for information on the new types of radios supplied as part of the project. Radios will be replaced on a like-for-like basis with currently deployed systems. https://psern.org/equipment/
PSERN will replace only the radios, they are not responsible for ancillary systems such as Tone Remotes or wiring infrastructure.