New Ohio requirement mandates dispatchers be certified

by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 13, 2019 | Comm Center News

VANDALIA, Ohio — The state has a new requirement to all emergency dispatch centers across Ohio that is designed to improve treatment for urgent medical calls.

The Ohio Department of Administrative Services gave all dispatch centers a deadline of April 1 to either be emergency medical dispatch certified or to submit a timeline for compliance.

The city of Vandalia’s dispatch center submitted a compliance timeline and the communications staff complete the required training on June 21. The compliance was accepted on June 26.

The staff members began using EMD as they completed the training.

“Trained telecommunicators, using locally approved EMD Guide-cards, quickly and properly determine the nature and priority of the call, dispatch the appropriate response, then give the caller instructions to help treat the patient until the responding EMS units arrive,” Lt. Ben Walker said.

Norfolk and Virginia Beach need to hire 911 dispatchers for call-to-answer times to go down

by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 13, 2019 | Comm Center News

Officials for the 911 emergency services in both Norfolk and Virginia Beach are telling residents if they make a call for service and the line continues to ring, they’re placed on hold or are greeted by an answering machine, don’t hang up.

Not only will the caller lose their place in the queue, but the already short-staffed dispatchers are required to spend valuable time calling back the missed caller, said Margie Hobbs, a recruiter at Virginia Beach’s Emergency Communications and Citizen Services divisions. 

“If a caller dials 911, even if it’s by accident, it’s important to remain on the phone to let the call-taker know you’re okay,” she said. “If you hang up, it ties up the call-takers because they have to call back until they get an answer to advise the caller is okay.”

Wood County officials mull possible dispatcher changes

by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 12, 2019 | Comm Center News

Maj. Reginald Patterson, chief of staff services with the State Police, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency was reviewing communications services, but not ready to publicly discuss it.

”The West Virginia State Police is in the process of reviewing four of our dispatch centers for consolidation; we are not in a position to publicly discuss any plans because they are not finalized,” he said. ”Furthermore, this consolidation would not involve the closing of any detachment or relocating areas for troopers, only communications services.”

Wood County commissioners, of which the 911 center is under their auspices, said they have been hearing talk around the community about the State Police planning to consolidate dispatchers in Charleston and all calls would be dispatched from there.

Pocatello police officer, dispatcher being credited with saving heart attack victim life

by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 11, 2019 | Comm Center News

POCATELLO — A police officer and emergency dispatcher are being credited with saving the life of a man who nearly died early Saturday morning from a massive heart attack.

Patrolman Tyler Anderson and dispatcher Diana Rich, both members of the Pocatello Police Department, are being called heroes for their actions.

The situation began to unfold when Rich answered a 911 phone call to the Police Department around 2:20 a.m. Saturday. A woman was on the other end of the phone reporting that she had just found her 65-year-old husband unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse in a chair in the couple’s living room.

“I told her to start CPR,” said Rich, who’s been with the Police Department for the past seven years. “I told her to do whatever she could to pull him off the chair and lay him flat on his back. Then I walked her through the CPR instructions that we have.”