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JEFFERSON — The county’s 911 dispatchers are following a new set of procedures which involves callers being asked more questions, and officials want the public to know what the change is all about and that it is not delaying the time it takes to dispatch an ambulance.
County 911 was established in 1990. Up until a state-mandated change was implemented in November in Ashtabula County, dispatchers largely focused on what the emergency is, where it happened and sending first responders to the location.
In 2016 the state mandated that all public safety answering points provide emergency medical dispatching. This means that dispatchers ask callers certain questions on medical calls and based upon the answers they receive they then stay on the line and tell callers what steps to take — such as how to do a Heimlich maneuver during a choking incident or to administer an aspirin during a potential heart attack — until an ambulance arrives.
Some agencies, such as Community Care Ambulance, have long been following the new rules while others, like the county’s 911 system, have only recently stepped on board.
Ashtabula County 911 has received more than 16,300 calls from January to present and of those calls more than 2,500 required emergency medical dispatching.
