In an emergency, we pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1 without much thought as to whether someone will answer.
Increasingly though, communities across Wisconsin face a shortage of 911 dispatchers.
Who will answer our calls if the crisis continues? And how can communities turn the shortage around?
CALVERT COUNTY, Md. – Calvert County Emergency Communications has been recognized by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) as a Tri-Accredited Center for Excellence (ACE) for police, fire and emergency medical services dispatching. Calvert County Emergency Communications is the 31st Tri-ACE in the world.
IAED is the standard-setting organization for emergency dispatch services worldwide. Accreditation and reaccreditation from the IAED represent the highest distinction awarded to emergency communication centers, certifying that a center performs at or above established industry standards.
Wilson County Emergency Communications earned accreditation through the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch as an Emergency Medical/Fire Dispatch Center of Excellence.
Wilson County 911 is now the 365th emergency medical and 84th first dispatch accredited center in the world, according to Wilson County Communications Director Stephen Mann.
Back in 2015, during one of the early FirstNet hearings on Capitol Hill, the Chair of FirstNet, Sue Swenson, briefed our nation’s elected officials on FirstNet, its progress, and the direction it was heading. With the confidence of a seasoned corporate telecommunications executive, she spoke about the many successes and how the network was going to get built. At one point, she was asked if they were going to reach their 2022 deployment goal. In her ever-present calm demeanor, she looked up at the dais and said, “Yes. If we don’t, I mean, we should be shot,” which clearly caused an awkward pause (and laughter), as the straightforward answer surprised many who were used to hedged responses like, “I think we can,” or “we will do our best.” Well, history has shown that she and the FirstNet Board got it done and indeed met all their 2022 goals.
Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) is an international 3GPP standard that allows public safety agencies to use broadband cellular networks (4G/LTE and 5G) with the same one-button Push-to-Talk feature as their traditional Land Mobile Radios (LMR).
In plain English, MCPTT makes a smartphone as quick and easy to use as a one-button PTT LMR handset. What makes MCPTT so different is that it uses the high-speed data capacity of cellular networks to enable live video streaming, file sharing, and real-time location tracking, capabilities that traditional voice-only radio systems simply cannot match.
The East Bridgewater, Massachusetts police and fire departments are giving thanks to a Holbrook dispatcher who they say helped save a 4-year-old girl’s life Monday night.
While working at the Holbrook Regional Emergency Communications Center at 5:32 p.m., authorities say Sophia Zervos answered a 911 call from two parents at a West Street home in East Bridgewater, reporting their daughter stopped breathing.
