Albany County Executive Dan McCoy and Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple announced the agreement Tuesday.

According to Karen Ziegler, director of the County Crime Victim and Sexual Abuse Center, all the calls will go to a special phone line at the sheriff’s sub-station in Voorhesville. This is where the trained dispatchers will send the caller to a rape counselor.

“Beginning this afternoon, all calls to the Crime Victim and Sexual Abuse Hotline will be answered by the professional men and women of the Sheriff’s Department,” said McCoy in a statement. “Up until now, the calls were handled by a contracted answering service in New Mexico. We are looking for ways to share services and save money without losing the quality of services we provide and this arrangement will not only put the caller in immediate contact with a trained emergency dispatcher familiar with the area, but will also save the county over $3,000 each year. The only difference is that the call will be routed through a trained, local 911 dispatcher as opposed to a call center that is 1700 miles away.”

Apple added that “the most critical issues during any emergency have always been rapid response and reliable service and I am confident that our dispatchers can use their training to aid the residents of Albany County who need to use this service. I also want to emphasize that all calls are treated with strict confidentiality and will in no way involve law enforcement, unless the caller asks for law enforcement intervention.”

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The American Heart Association is making four recommendations that include training 9-1-1 dispatchers to help people who don’t know CPR.

The AHA says that policy will save many lives.

In Tucson first responders already know that because emergency workers here are already doing it.

Tucson is already years ahead of the AHA recommendations and, we’re told, has become a model for many other cities.

That’s because even before emergency crews roll out to help save the life of someone whose heart has stopped, the 9-1-1 caller is busy following precise directions.

If you live in Tucson, or one of five local fire districts, here’s what you’ll hear when you call 9-1-1 with a medical emergency, someone in cardiac arrest.

“How old is he? Is he conscious? Is he breathing.  Okay.  Listen carefully. I’m going to tell you how to do CPR,” says Tucson Fire Communications Supervisor Jason Brown as he repeats what he and other dispatchers say.

They will walk you through continuous chest compressions.

“Lay him flat on his back on the floor.  Okay. He’s on the bed. I need you to get him on the floor,” Brown says.

“Push down at a rate of 100 times a minute. That’s faster than one compression a second. Don’t stop compressions until rescuers arrive,” Brown continues.

That’s one of the four AHA recommendations designed to save lives of patients whose hearts have stopped.

“We always look at the Heart Association guidelines, and pay attention to what they say and make sure that we’re in compliance. But, in this particular case, what you’re talking about, we’ve been doing it for years,” Tucson Fire Captain Carl Mare tells us.

In fact, continuous chest compression was developed at the University of Arizona in Tucson, using the Tucson Fire Department, among others, in the pilot project.

That happened years ago.

“And that’s why we have the pre-arrival instructions here in Tucson which may be a little different to Boston or to Philadelphia because we do the continuous chest compressions that we have found to be the best way to take care of our patients here.  Hopefully, the rest of the country will do the same,” Mare says.

“We’ve been doing it here in Tucson for years, and every year it gets better. So living in Tucson you probably have a better chance of survival, should you have a cardiac arrest, then you would other places in the country,” says Mare.

The other AHA recommendations have to do with quality assurance.

Capt. Mare says in Tucson CPR instructions are begun less than one minute after the 9-1-1 caller is transferred to the dispatcher.

Mare also says the communications center must be at higher than 95% compliance in order to maintain its certification.

The five fire districts that also use the Tucson Fire Communications Center and its dispatchers are Northwest Fire, Avra Valley, Picture Rocks, Golder Ranch and Three Points.

Mare says they are known as the Northwest Consortium.

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CPR helps to keep a person’s blood flowing, particularly to the brain, after the heart has stopped. In the few-minute window between cardiac arrest — when the heart stops — and the arrival of paramedics, maintaining some blood flow can make the difference between life and death, or between permanent brain damage and a chance at recovery.

The AHA already advises 9-1-1 dispatchers to help bystanders provide immediate emergency assistance — first to assess whether a person has had cardiac arrest, and then, if appropriate, to administer CPR. The problem is that 9-1-1 dispatchers don’t always follow those guidelines , according to the new AHA report, published in the journal Circulation.

“It isn’t as common as you think, that you call 9-1-1 and they tell you what to do,” lead author E. Brooke Lerner said in a written statement.

What’s more, bystanders are often reluctant to perform CPR if they haven’t been trained in it before. Most fear they will do more harm than good. That’s why clear, confident instructions from the 9-1-1 dispatcher are so important.

“[T]he chances that you’re going to hurt somebody [while performing CPR] are very, very small,” Lerner says. “And if you do nothing, they’re not getting the help that’s going to save their life.”

More than 380,000 people in the U.S. are assessed for sudden cardiac arrest every year, according to the AHA.

It helps to become familiar with CPR so you feel more comfortable in case you need to help someone, says the AHA. The current CPR protocol includes only chest compressions — firm, rapid pushing on the chest — in most cases, and not the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that was once better known. Research has found that mouth-to-mouth is often not very effective, and that people tend to feel awkward about it, which may delay CPR onset.

For most adults, only chest compressions are necessary. However, adding mouth-to-mouth — breathing support — is recommended for all infants and children, and for any adults whose cardiac arrest may be caused by asphyxia, such as drowning.

It’s certainly scary to perform CPR, especially for people who aren’t trained to do so, and, even if they are, who don’t perform the process regularly. But it is comforting to know that emergency-response dispatchers can talk you through the proper way to save someone’s life.

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But for dispatchers at the police department’s MetroCom unit, there’s little public recognition for their efforts.

On Thursday, 11 fresh faces were welcomed to the job and recognized by friends and family during a graduation ceremony at the police station for the department’s 42nd training academy.

It’s a position that can be stressful, demanding and one that incurs a high turnover rate, police officials said.

“You’ll have good days and you’ll have bad days, but don’t lose enthusiasm for what you do,” said Interim Police Chief Richard Badaracco. “It’s very important. There will be days when someone’s life depends on you.”

Nearly 150 people applied for this year’s dispatcher academy and police officials chose fewer than a dozen.

About 90 percent of the recruits are women.

Graduate Carrie Knecht had recently moved back to Corpus Christi and was looking for a more fulfilling career than her temporary job at a local bank.

She stumbled upon a dispatcher job posting on a city website.

“I wanted a job that really meant something to me,” she said. “I decided to give it a shot.”

Knecht received the distinction Thursday of having the highest grade average of her class during the six-week training course.

During the academy, students handled real emergency calls. After graduation they will work for two months alongside a trainer before taking calls on their own.

One woman called because a vulture was on her roof and she feared for her children, Knecht said.

Last week, Knecht walked a woman through performing CPR on an unconscious person for the first time.

“That was a little intense,” she said. “At that point you don’t have time to think, you just know what to focus on and you do your job.”

The recruits will join nearly 70 other dispatchers, who take calls for police, fire officials, the city’s animal control and a range of state and federal agencies.

Capt. Jason Brady, who oversees the MetroCom unit, said dispatchers are a critical link between residents and emergency responders.

“When a panicked citizen dials 911, it is the calm voice and quick thinking of the MetroCom call taker who will interpret the needs of the caller and make the necessary determination,” he said.

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School personnel across the system must be fully trained to respond to emergencies, including ones that seem unlikely. The odds may be one in a million, but that is what Jonathan was, too — one of the million kids who show up for class daily.

While the events are under investigation, it appears certain that there was a huge gap between what should have been done in that cafeteria Dec. 5 and what actually happened.

School records indicate Jonathan began choking at the end of his lunch period, at 12:15 p.m. But it was not until 12:29, a full 14 minutes later, that the Emergency Medical Service logged its first 911 call from PS 47. By then, it was too late.

In the interim, according to published reports, a parent and an assistant principal — who had been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation in November — attempted unsuccessfully to dislodge the meatball from Jonathan’s throat, including performing the Heimlich maneuver.

As well-intentioned as they were, a spokesman for EMS said proper procedure calls for instantly notifying 911. If you are alone, contact 911 before administering aid. If you are not, have one person call 911 as the other gives assistance. EMS operators will talk callers through doing the Heimlich.

After EMS finally got the call about Jonathan, medics arrived in less than four minutes. Respiratory arrest normally sets in four to six minutes after a person begins choking; a rapid response might have saved the fourth-grader’s life.

With every adult carrying a cell phone, all must get the message: Call 911. It’s matter of life and death.

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City of Muskogee Emergency Management Director Jimmy Moore said a citywide drill, which began at about 10 a.m., simulated a hostage situation and shooting at Muskogee Civic Center. Moore said the situation involved a barricaded suspect taking hostages at the Civic Center.

Participants included Muskogee Police Department, Muskogee Fire Department, City of Muskogee Emergency Management, Muskogee Civic Center, Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service, Muskogee Community Hospital, Muskogee Regional Medical Center, Wagoner Emergency Medical Service and Muskogee County Health Department.

Indian Capital Technology Center nursing students, bearing simulated wounds, portrayed casualties

“We wanted to make sure we can communicate through the new E911 system and we wanted to see how many people it would take to stress the hospitals,” Moore said.

The countywide E911 system, which went into operation last summer, brought the county’s various law enforcement, fire and emergency medical systems under one radio system and one building.

“We did not have to have multiple radios” during the drill, Moore said. “We could just switch to police, then emergency management, then EMS.”

The drill also helped show Civic Center employees what to do in an emergency, Moore said.

“I learned not to panic and how to run and get help,” said Civic Center manager Cassandra Gaines. “Three of my employees were shot and taken hostage.”

Gaines said she called 911 when she saw people with guns running through the Civic Center’s front door.

“I called them and said it was just a drill,” Gaines said.

That sent a Muskogee Police Department Special Operations Team storming into the Civic Center.

Shortly after 10 a.m., a busload of casualties arrived at MRMC’s emergency room. Nurses and other workers scrambled to get them in and treated. The “victims” had varying types of injuries — gunshot wounds, shrapnel in legs and chests, facial cuts.

Two were “dead” on arrival, said MRMC safety officer Kyle Kuhns. “Then we had five in stable condition, four in guarded condition, four in critical condition.”

Another hovered between critical condition and death, Kuhns said.

“Our priority was treating not just a number of patients, but different acuity of patients,” Kuhns said, referring to a patient’s level of illness or injury. “We had to treat a number of patients in critical condition.”

Kuhns said the drill involved the entire hospital staff.

“Our own success depended on the staff responding appropriately,” Kuhns said.

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John Dahms, an instructor at Gateway Technical College in Burlington, has trained dispatchers for 30 years. He said most people don’t realize that many emergency dispatchers are not qualified to provide any medical help.

“The conditioning we have as a public sometimes doesn’t serve us well when the reality of the situation hits us,” he said. “Some of the smaller agencies still rely on part-time people to fill in vacation spots and when dispatchers are sick.”

Since the state does not hold dispatchers to minimum standards, the requirements and training are left up to each municipality.

Some municipalities require their employees to be certified in Emergency Medical Dispatch. But Dahms said the lack of state or federal oversight can lead to varying degrees of expertise.

“The level of training can vary from community to community,” he said. “The amount of service or care that a caller gets in an emergency situation might depend upon which side of the street they’re calling from.”

Pewaukee Fire Chief Kevin Bierce said a dispatcher trained to assess a medical situation can help ensure that only the proper personnel respond to the call.

“Every minute we move can mean the difference,” he said. “Having them interact with the patient, they’re painting a picture, and they’re saving lives as they’re doing it.”

And while the idea of trained staff seems logical, some say the catch is in the costs. Training hours, staffing and maintaining a fully certified operation can be costly.

But some budget-saving moves like the consolidation of call centers can actually help bridge that gap.

Departments in Racine county are joining forces and will soon have all their dispatchers EMD certified.

Some agencies like Waukesha County dispatch and the cities of Waukesha and Muskego are adopting a nationally certified program for their training in order to provide assurance of a minimum level of knowledge among their staffs. Milwaukee Fire Dispatch is also moving toward a national program, and could have their center certified in the next few months.

For quick response to such calls locally, staffers at Somerset Regional Communication Center have completed training in the Missing Kids and 911 Readiness Project, partnering them with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The partnership is the first in Maine and one of only three in New England, said Somerset Communications and Emergency Management Director Michael Smith.

“Our communities are going to be assured that they are getting the identical level of questioning and information gathering that you get at the national level when they first call to report a child missing or abducted,” Smith said. “There will be no delay in the time all the information is put out.

“Any of us that have kids, we all know — it’s our worst nightmare when a child is missing and anything that we can do to facilitate that return is a positive thing.”

Smith said he enrolled in a chief executive officer training program at the national center in Virginia over two days last year and took what he learned back to his staff in Skowhegan. Supervisor Tammy Barker coordinated the 3 1/2-hour online training for each of the 16 communications center staff members. The training was done through the Fox Valley Technical College’s online program, based in Appleton, Wis.

All the costs of the program are paid for by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Communications protocol already had been laid out on missing children under guidelines in the Adam Walsh Act, named for a boy who was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and later found murdered. With the national partnership, Somerset dispatchers now have detailed guidelines for quick response, Smith said.

“The Adam Walsh Act requires communications centers make public notification through the national crime system in two hours — we average about 10 minutes,” Smith said. “We’re now trained to the national center standards.”

Under the project, Somerset staff also created a quality assurance grading system for each call and establishing a check list showing name, age and other important information on a missing child using what Smith called best practices.

“We make sure we do the right thing every time,” he said. “We’ve gone into our computer dispatch system and created a template, so when they put in a missing juvenile call, a template actually pops up and they can fill in everything to find the child as quickly as possible. I’d like to see every dispatch center in the state be part of this program.”

There are 26 so-called public service answering points, or regional 911 centers in Maine. The Somerset call center covers all of Somerset County and 19 cities and towns in Kennebec County, where calls are transferred to the responding agency.

To learn more about the 911 Partner Program visit www.missingkids.com/911.

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Having an exit strategy rarely comes to mind when people enter a building. People need to carefully examine a place and look for the exits when entering a building, especially crowded buildings such as clubs and bars. Make a mental note of the exit signs and all of the windows. Make sure that doors, windows, and hallways are not blocked by anything. Many restaurants, nightclubs, and bars tend to block hallways and doors. If you should come to notice blocked doorways and hallways make sure to bring it to the attention of management. Finally, yet importantly, stay away from crowded places. Each building is required by law to have a notice in view to the pubic stating how many people are allowed in the building. If a place has exceeded its occupancy, do not enter that building.

People also create fire hazards at home without even realizing it. With the holidays and winter right around the corner, people like to fill their homes with scented candles to enlighten the holiday spirit and use space heaters and fireplaces to keep warm. To ensure fire hazard safety, avoid leaving burning candles unattended, near a window or breeze, near flammable liquids, or material such as curtains. Buy candles in non-tipping holders and place candles on non-flammable surfaces. Have space heaters checked out annually and keep the heater at least three feet away from anything. Do not use a cell phone or flip on any electrical switch when you smell gas and most importantly, do not use a stove or any fuel burning equipment to heat up your home.

When using electrical equipment at home, it is best to unplug them after use. Make sure there is enough room around appliances and plug-ins that generate heat and make sure to keep them away from water. Avoid plugging to many electronics to one outlet. This can generate enough heat to create a fire if an outlet is overloaded. Never try to put out an electrical fire on your own. Electrical fires are difficult to put out. Always call 9-1-1. Fireworks also cause fires and personal injuries. Considering the dry weather in South Texas, fireworks are usually banned by cities. However, this does not mean people will not use them. It is best to buy fireworks from a licensed vendor, use away from a home and away from dried out brush, use protective eyewear, and have plenty of water. Do not light fireworks in glass or metal containers and never try to re-light a dysfunctional firework.

These are just a few tips to follow to avoid a fire hazard. Look at your home and create an exit strategy from all windows and exits. You never know when an emergency may occur. By doing this and preparing yourself and your family, you can save lives.

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The Mercer County Emergency Management Agency is recruiting hams to become a part of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Response Team, which will lend support to the Tri-County Medical Response Corps. The amateur radio group will assist the Mercer County Emergency Management Agency and the Mercer County Health Department.

Initial training sessions are being conducted in November that will allow amateur operators to learn about on-scene security, the Incident Command System and the National Incident Management System.

The on-scene security training for hams is being offered from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 7 at the First Street Armory, 215 S. First St., Monmouth, and from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Mercer County Health Department, 305 NW Seventh St., Aledo. The classes will be taught by Warren County Sheriff Martin Edwards in Monmouth and Mercer County Sheriff Tom Thompson in Aledo.

The on-scene security training class provides hams with an understanding of security functions that include crowd control, basic radio operations and methods used to obtain a safe, secure environment utilizing non-law enforcement personnel during an emergency situation.

The introductory class to the Incident Command System provides a foundation for higher ICS training and describes the history, features and principles of the ICS. The class also explains the relationship between ICS and the National Incident Management System. A take-home test is given to participants on the night of the class.

Persons who do not have an amateur radio license and who are interested in becoming licensed to participate with the ham group should take the upcoming class to receive initial emergency training. Additional radio classes will be offered by Mercer County’s ham operators in order to get additional people licensed and on the air to assist local operations.
A radio system is expected to be put on the air in Mercer County in the coming year that will allow hams to remain in contact with each other using portable and mobile radios during emergency situations. Funding will be sought in order to get the relay system on the air.

Hams interested in reserving a spot at the upcoming training sessions or persons interested in training to become a licensed amateur radio operator should contact Keith Clark, KC9HDD, at 309-371-5913 or KC9HDD@ frontiernet.net, or Chuck Gysi, N2DUP, at 888-749-3200 or N2DUP@arrl.net.

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