It’s a common refrain among those of us who work in 911 centers that we don’t take compliments, we take tragedies. Whether the call is about a heart attack, a house fire, a shooting, or a natural disaster, we’re trained to handle each call calmly and quickly. Quite often, things happen so quickly that we don’t know the outcome of the emergency.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve dealt with ever-changing emergency-response protocols and surges in calls about domestic violence, mental-health crises, and at-home illnesses. We’ve been faced with acute staffing shortages, and—in most centers—we’re unable to work remotely. However, we’ve continued to go to work every day, so that when anyone dials 911, someone is there to answer the call and send help…
WINCHESTER —The Frederick County Public Safety Communications on Wednesday went live with Next Generation 9-1-1.
“NextGen 9-1-1 is new technology that allows the public to share more detailed data such as videos, images, and text messages with your 911 communications center,” Tamara Perez, the county’s director of public safety communications, said in a news release. “With the enhancement of 911 through NextGen, everyday information from your smartphone, medical devices, car computers, and building alarms can be shared with your 911 center…
The Metropolitan Emergency Communications Center (MECC) opened on Tuesday and wanted to bring faster response times to people.
Columbus, Ohio — The new 911 Dispatch Center for the Metropolitan Emergency Communications Center (MECC) opened on Tuesday.
Leaders say that bringing the Gahana police dispatch to the same room as the fire brigade in Plain Township, Jeffersontown, Whitehall, Trulo Township, and Violet Township can help people faster in an emergency. I am…
U.S. senators today voted to confirm FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to a third term, assuring that Rosenworcel can remain on the commission through 2025 and avoiding an unusual scenario in which Republicans could have held an FCC majority while a Democrat president was in office.
Senators voted 68-31 to support President Joe Biden’s renomination of Rosenworcel, whose second term expired earlier this year and would have been required to step down from the FCC at the end of the month without a confirmation vote. Without a confirmation vote this month, Republicans would have held a 2-1 majority at the FCC at least temporarily while the Senate considered the nominations of Rosenworcel and Gigi Sohn to fill the Democrat vacancies on the five-member commission…
Richmond, Va. and San Rafael, Calif. – First Arriving, a leader in technology for public safety and local government, and Tablet Command, a leading incident response and management solution provider, today announced they have collaborated to provide real-time dispatch information for First Arriving’s Digital Dashboards.
The partnership will provide Dashboard users with real-time dispatch information from Tablet Command including nature of call, address, units dispatched, call notes, turnout timer, ETA and distance, custom alert tones, maps and ESRI layers. There are more than 100 integrations and features available through First Arriving’s dashboards for large display screens, desktops and tablets…
EMS departments are struggling statewide, but officials say they’ve gotten worse in the last three months.
PENOBSCOT COUNTY, Maine — Across the state, many emergency medical services departments are critically short-staffed, and that problem only seems to be getting worse.
Dispatchers who answer 911 calls and send out EMS crews said they’re regularly sending ambulances outside of their coverage areas to help cover emergency calls.
Chris Lavoie, Penobscot Regional Communications Center director, said his dispatchers are frequently calling as many as seven different departments to find an available ambulance crew to send to a medical emergency…
