A high-tech upgrade for response to 911 calls was proposed to Allen County commissioners Tuesday.
For more than 15 years dispatchers have depended on a set of flip cards to respond to callers with medical emergencies.
While dispatchers are adept with the system, they could be more efficient if they used an online program, said Angie Murphy, dispatcher director.
“That would really help,” Murphy said Tuesday afternoon at the dispatch center, 410 N. State St., while Theresa Francis, a dispatcher, demonstrated the flip-card process. “As it is now, dispatchers have to look back and forth between their screen (where calls are monitored) and the cards. They also have to flip through the cards to find the question, and then what the answer indicates.”
“All the information would come up immediately on the screen,” with the new program, Murphy said.
Murphy would like to have a police response program as well.
Online programs for medical and fire calls would be $66,389, which, Murphy admits, is a hefty sum, but she has money available. An alternate would be a flip-card digest for fire calls, costing $6,552.
Each month a surcharge of 53 cents is made on all telephones, landline and cell. The fund contains $158,708, all of which is limited to purchases of equipment to support dispatch services.
Commissioners didn’t take action on the request, but, noting Murphy’s efforts to make dispatch services more efficient and responsive, said they, too, were eager to save time and lives.
In a typical call, Murphy said, a dispatcher helps calm the caller and extract as much information as possible to prepare emergency medical service rushing to the scene, the county’s or Iola’s.
“They stay on the line, sometimes as long as 15 minutes when a call comes from out in the county, and occasionally can make recommendations to help,” such as aspirin if a caller’s responses indicate high probability of heart problems, she said.
Information on flip cards used today has been reviewed by Dr. Tim Spears, the county’s medical adviser, as well as Jason Nelson, county ambulance director, and Ron Conaway, Iola ambulance director.
COMMISSIONERS heard presentations about three approaches for county employee health insurance.
Dave Dillon outlined several Blue Cross Blue Shield full-coverage plans and said the company also would manage self-insurance.
Through a conference call, Jeanne Kelly told about the pool that contains all state employees, and is open to counties.
Rhonda Fernandez and Dennis Call, who have managed the county’s self-insurance the past three years, gave a report of the last 10 months and said they wanted to keep the county’s business.
