by ECC Editor | Sep 16, 2021 | Comm Center News
Louisville, KY. (September 14, 2021) – On Thursday, September 9th, the Kentucky Emergency Services Conference held its annual awards banquet in Louisville to honor emergency service personnel from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Kentucky State Police, Post 1 communications center was recognized as the 2021 “PSAP of the Year”. PSAP or Public Safety Answering Point is more commonly known as a 911 communications center. The 911 center at Post 1 in Hickory serves as the PSAP for agencies in Ballard, Graves, Hickman, and Lyon Counties. Aside from dispatching for the Kentucky State Police, Post 1 is the primary dispatch center for all emergency services in Graves and Lyon Counties including their municipal departments. In 2020 the 911 center in Hickory answered nearly 26,000 9-1-1 calls and 75,000 non-emergency calls in addition to delivering and receiving hundreds of thousands of radio transmissions… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Sep 16, 2021 | Comm Center News
In the aftermath of the recent storms that dumped heavy rain on western North Carolina, a Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT) was deployed to support the Haywood County Communications Center, in providing some relief for the telecommunicators there who worked through the storm and aftermath with little time for rest or relief. In addition to being an Emergency Management watch analyst with the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s Division of Emergency Management 24-Hour Watch, Marianne Nicolaysen is Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) certified and gladly took up the challenge of being on the taskforce.
While working as part of the TERT, Nicolaysen received administrative and 911 calls, including from a distraught woman who advised that the caller’s mother, approximately 50 years old, was acting strangely and having difficulty breathing; they were at a rest stop on Interstate 40 and the situation was deteriorating. To make matters more difficult a toddler was in the car. As Nicolaysen began to attempt a breathing diagnostic on the mother, which is a way to count the rate of respirations to determine if someone is breathing effectively, it became obvious that she was no longer breathing at all. Following the protocol for a subject in cardiac arrest she began giving instructions for the caller, who she estimated to be in her 20s, to start CPR while routing the call to a dispatcher… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Sep 16, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
A next-generation 911 would allow the nation’s 6,000 911 centers to accept texts, videos and photos.
The big picture: U.S. emergency communications have remained stubbornly analog, but Congress is about to take another run at dragging 911 into the digital age.
Why it matters: Giving people ways to reach 911 beyond voice calls could save citizens’ and first responders’ lives.
Driving the news: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), co-chair of the Senate Next Generation 9-1-1 Caucus, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) announced a bill Thursday that would create a $10 billion federal grant program for upgrades to the nation’s 911 centers… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Sep 16, 2021 | Jobs
Role
Responsible for receiving, transmitting and monitoring radio communications to and from fixed or mobile transmitters; to operate a telephone exchange and teletype equipment and for dispatching proper equipment and personnel to expedite work operations.
Major Duties, Responsibilities
Answers the telephone and all systems and receives emergency calls from citizens, law enforcement agencies or fire departments requesting/reporting emergencies, information and assistance. Documents pertinent information into the Computer Aided Dispatch System. Determines proper personnel response and dispatches units… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Sep 15, 2021 | Comm Center News
TORONTO — It’s estimated that about 90 percent of Canadians now have a smartphone and if you have one, you know it’s easy to dial 9-1-1 — sometimes, even by accident.
“We get hundreds of these calls a day, which amounts to thousands of accidental calls a year,” inspector Paul Hallett with Durham Regional Police 9-1-1 Communications told CTV News Toronto Tuesday.
The police force is trying to better manage these accidental calls and has now decided to text someone first to let them know they made an accidental call to the 9-1-1 system.
Under previous protocols, to deal with an accidental 9-1-1 call, an operator would have to phone the person back to see if it was an accident or a real emergency… READ MORE
