A local fire chief has raised the level of debate over how New Hampshire 911 calls are answered by telling his family to directly call the local fire department, and not to dial 911. Portsmouth fire chief Christopher Leclaire says the single, state-wide 911 public safety answering point (PSAP) takes too long to handle medical emergencies, seriously delaying the response of local EMS units. He believes the state should revise its procedures for questioning callers to immediately notify the involved EMS agency before asking any emergency medical dispatch (EMD) questions. However, state officials say they already offer an electronic method of notifying local agencies of emergency incidents while EMD is in progress, but that Portsmouth chose not to install the system. Portsmouth communications supervisor Gil Emery told a reporter the state computer system wasn’t compatible with the city’s existing gear, and would have required dispatchers to monitor yet another computer system. “It didn’t fit into our workflow,” Emery said. Read more about the debate over a quick response and the use of EMD here.
5 comments… add one
Something is not working the way it should. We have been using EMD for nearly 10 years (we’ll be accredited this year) and we dispatch most high priority calls in less that 45 seconds.
My guess….they don’t have a robust Quality Assurance system that provides timely feedback to dispatchers/call takers.
There are two ways to do things…. fist or correct! I THINK everyone would like things to be done correctly….I’d bet any paramedic, if given an opportunity to review EMD, would think all the “questions” (we like to think of it as information gathering) are very legitimate and make perfect sense.
Sadly, the article does not tell you the whole story. Some people and organizations, oddly in a specific area of our state, haven’t been able to get over the politics of state-wide 911 since 1995. Our 911 system is a quality, award-winning one used as a model by many. Does it seem strange the first responders quoted in this article didn’t take ANY of the possible blame or credit for their own response times to the scene? Please use caution with the ‘facts’ as presented by the media in this case.
What a shame that citizens don’t see the huge benefit to their community. EMD is a proven system that saves lives-I’ve been an EMD for over 9 years and can tell you for a fact that my work has saved lives and comforted family members who know that did everything humanly possible for their loved one. Good EMD does not delay responses, it enhances it.
Tom, that’s not unusual….there is ALWAYS more to the story.
Amen Tracy!
There’s more to this story than who is to blame. This is a prime example of the pitfalls of center consolidation. Merging centers can sometimes reduce costs and streamline processes, but far too often it just moves dispatchers (literally the first responders to most emergencies) further and further away from the scene and needlessly detaches them from the resources they manage. Consolidations are far too prone to problems such as dispatchers with no knowledge of the areas they are working, interfaces between the center and the myriad agencies it oversees that don’t work, and ultimately the loss of local agencies and governments to manage their own resources for the unique needs of the community.
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