City Communications Center Highlighted
Date:
09/17/2009Summary:
The City of Yuma’s Public Safety Communications Center was recently highlighted in the National Emergency Number Association’s (NENA) monthly magazine.Contact:
The City of Yuma’s Public Safety Communications Center was recently highlighted in the National Emergency Number Association’s (NENA) monthly magazine. The August issue of “Emergency Number Professional” featured an article on evaluation of emergency calls. LuSandra Harris is the communication center’s manager and was interviewed for the article.
Since 2008 a dispatcher evaluation system has been in place to record emergency calls for later review and use for improving efficiency. It was first applied to Yuma Fire Department emergency calls when the department wanted to reduce the time between calls being answered and alerts going out to the stations. YFD wanted this time to be 60 seconds or less. This system was successfully used to reduce the time from an average of 88 seconds to an average of 58 seconds!
Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD) was also reviewed for effectiveness using the recording system. EMD involves trained dispatchers supplying lifesaving first aid information over the phone to begin aiding patients while paramedics are still responding to the scene.
Due to the success the City of Yuma’s Public Safety Communications Center has had in evaluating emergency calls for the Fire Department, this system will soon be expanded to include Yuma Police Department calls for service. The communications center has received more than 127,609 calls for service so far this year, 36,646 of which were 9-1-1 emergency calls.
