Jun. 19--A new live two-way video link between University Medical Center and the city's 17 paramedic units is expected to put Tucson at the cutting edge of medical technology when it goes online in August.

The system allows real-time videoconferencing over the city's public safety and public works wireless Internet system -- a wireless mesh that links the city's traffic signals and other public safety wireless functions.

Dr. Rifat Latifi, interim medical director of UMC's Level 1 trauma center, said the video link will be the first of its kind in the country and the world.

"We think it's an incredible thing," Latifi said. "Wherever a patient is, we're there."

It is an extension of the Southern Arizona Teletrauma and Telepresence Program, which provides a live link -- including videoconferencing, telemetry, digital X-rays and ultrasound -- between the trauma doctors at UMC and rural emergency rooms and doctors and nurses in Southern Arizona, to assist in the care of traumatically injured and critically ill patients.

Although the system does not yet have the ability to transfer X-rays and ultrasounds, the two-way video quality is top-notch, and UMC and the paramedics can see and hear each other in real time.

Each paramedic unit is equipped with a video camera just above the back door that looks down at the patients and paramedics in the back of the vehicle. The camera can be manipulated from both ends -- meaning the doctors at the hospital can zoom in and pan the camera remotely while the paramedics do their work.

The paramedics can see the doctor in the hospital on a computer monitor installed on the back wall of the vehicle.

Some of the units are also equipped with an outside camera on top of the back door, which can give doctors a firsthand view of a crash scene while also giving a fire department a live look at what it is responding to if more than one unit is arriving at a scene.

The camera's zoom is very powerful. It can enhance images up to 22 times, said Francisco Leyva, the video-link project manager for the city. The project is funded by a $1.9 million federal grant, matched by the city with salaries and the existing wireless system.

During a demonstration of the cameras' capabilities last week, the outside camera was manipulated from the hospital to easily read lines of very small type on a poster 10 feet away from the ambulance. The inside camera, also manipulated from the hospital, was able to zoom in close enough to count the hair follicles on a hand.