Re: New member and Question

[Guest guest]

<snip your general stats>

My City is ~16,000, 5.5 sq miles; dispatch police, volunteer fire

dept, night and weekend water/streets/sewer. We run ~15,000 calls for

police services and ~1100 fire-EMS calls per year. One dispatcher on

duty at a time. We are all EMD trained. The sheriff's dept

dispatches ambulance - notified by us via dedicated land-line. I've

been a dispatcher since 1973.

> medical dispatch) certified. I have heard horror stories of other

> 911 centers that have been sued in excess of $50 million because the

> dispatcher was not able to give pre-arrival instructions to a

First, the dispatcher is not the one sued, just the agency; second,

there are similar lawsuits (but specifically _including_ the

dispatcher) against EMD centers. The dispatcher is covered by the

agency if they follow the protocols EXACTLY.

Usually emergency personnel are on scene of medical aid calls within

5 minutes.

> sometimes only one dispatcher working. How can a dispatcher, who is

> working by themself, give pre-arrival instructions to a caller and

> answer all the calls at the same time. You can't just put a 911

> caller on hold while you are giving them instructions on how to do

> CPR. Plus, our director is sick of hearing the letters E-M-D, as a

Because of staffing, our primary use of EMD is to assess response

codes (no need to have those big green trucks blowing through red

signals for a splinter in a finger). Our protocols cover us from not

providing pre-arrival instructions, based on how busy things are in

the comm center (which means _no_ CPR as there no way we can

guarentee that we wouldn't have to " abandon " the caller to answer

another 911).

Talking with my co-workers, there is a (relatively high) level of

frustration with us being labelled " EMD " as we are trained (and, so

far as the public is concerned, prepared implement) EMD, but practical

realities (single dispatcher) means it is almost non-existant. The

public expectation is far beyond what we can provide. We have a

fairly high proportion of retired folks (fixed income) which causes

strong resistance to increasing taxes to add personnel (while they

like to see - amd _might_ be willing to pay for - more marked units

on the street, dispatchers are invisible to them).

Roy Mumaw

CAPD Arroyo Grande

[Guest guest]

First of all to Don Gruver. Close on your guess, very close

actually. I work for County Communications.

I just want to add that everyone's comments have been very helpfull.

I really do hope that my communications center does get EMD trained,

however I do see it as a very bumpy ride getting there. It is going

to take a lot I am afraid. I will let you all know how it goes.

Also, does anyone know when and where the next APCO conference is in

Kansas. I am supposed to be going to the next one, but I have not

heard when or where it is supposed to be.

Thanks again everyone for the help.

[Guest guest]

, EMD is invaluable and your center should get it. I dispatch for a

population of about 120,000 with 4 fire/EMS and 3 police agencies. We have a

minimum staffing of 3 on days and evening shift and 2 on mids. You do EMD when

you can during busy periods. Summed up, our policies state that EMD is not to

be stopped during life & death situations...

AKA:CPR/Choking/Childbirth/Unconscious. If I'm in the middle of EMD during

day/evening shift chances are I will get through them because I'll have at least

2 or 3 others in the room. If I'm on mids though and my partner is out of the

room I may just stop doing EMD (non-life threatening) and advise the caller to

call back if whatever is going on gets worse. (We do the same thing on Day and

Evening shift if it gets busy) A bloody nose is ALOT less important than a

Traffic stop or another 911 call coming in that I have to answer. As long as

your agency sets up policies to be followed you are in the clear. EMD is

malleable so it can be worked around. Someone will always sue though even if

you did a great job. Good Luck!

Jim J

Mr911

PASTED*******>>My name is and I have been a full-time 911 dispatcher for

approximately eight months now. I work for a communications center

in central Kansas, and service a county with a population of

approximately 8,000 to 9,000 people. We dispatch for several

agencies: 2 EMS stations, police, sheriff, city fire/rescue/hazmat, 9

county fire agencies, and on nights and weekends we dispatch for

public utilities. We also have the capability of dispatching State

Police, Wildlife & Parks (Conservation Officers), and Corps of

Engineers (we have a large lake in our county). Last year we had

approximately 12,000 calls for service, which comes to about 33 calls

a day. Which I think is a large amount for our area. As of yet, our

dispatchers (there are eight full-time) are not EMD (emergency

medical dispatch) certified. I have heard horror stories of other

911 centers that have been sued in excess of $50 million because the

dispatcher was not able to give pre-arrival instructions to a

caller. In one way, I really want our department to become

certified, but on the other hand I don't know if it would work in our

area. I see both sides of the problem frequently as I also work part-

time as and EMT for the local EMS. On the EMS side, it would be very

helpful. There are certain areas of our county that do not have any

First Responder agency. So it could be sometimes of up to 15 minutes

before EMS arrives. In the meantime the dispatcher could be giving

pre-arrival instructions. However, on the other hand. There is

sometimes only one dispatcher working. How can a dispatcher, who is

working by themself, give pre-arrival instructions to a caller and

answer all the calls at the same time. You can't just put a 911

caller on hold while you are giving them instructions on how to do

CPR. Plus, our director is sick of hearing the letters E-M-D, as a

ex-employee literally shoved it down his throat, until he could no

longer stand it. I would really like to hear what other people

think, especially ones from a similar agency that does have EMD.

All comments are welcome. Thanks.<<<PASTED*********

Dispatcher/116

EMT-I/D

Firefighter 1 Student<<<PASTED