Des Moines police Officer David Murillo is running against four other candidates for the Republican nomination for sheriff to replace Jim Lee.

Murillo said the 911 response to a woman frantically looking for help for her 4-year-old son shows why dispatcher training should be an issue in the campaign.

“911 what’s the address of your emergency?” asks the dispatcher.

“5013 Lakewood Drive, Norwalk,” said the woman.

“OK, you’ve reached West Des Moines, stay on the line I need to transfer you to Norwalk,” said the dispatcher.

“What’s the problem there?” asked the next dispatcher.

“My four year old has been sick all day and he’s unresponsive and he’s not responding to us,” said the woman.

“Is he breathing?” asks the dispatcher.

“What?” said the woman.

“Is he breathing? Is he breathing?,” said the dispatcher.

“Yes, yes, he’s not responding to anything. We’re in the shower and,” said the woman.

“OK what is your name?” said the dispatcher.

“Melissa,” said the woman.

“Alright Melissa, we’ll get you some help down there OK,” said the dispatcher.

“Thank you,” said the woman.

“You’re welcome, bye,” said the dispatcher.

Murillo said the call ended without the dispatcher providing additional assistance.

“As a candidate for sheriff that’s not good enough for me and it shouldn’t be good enough for anybody that resides in Warren County,” said Murillo.

Murillo said the first dispatcher from West Des Moines continued to listen to the call and called the woman back.

“Ma’am this is the West Des Moines Fire and EMS, what’s your name?” asks the West Des Moines dispatcher.

“Melissa,” answers the woman.

“OK, Melissa I’m going to give you some instructions until Norwalk EMS gets there OK,” said the dispatcher. “Lay him flat on his back on the ground, and remove any pillows. Yup. and remove any pillows.”

“I want that dispatcher to stay on the line and give medical care and attention until the squad, the ambulance shows up,” said Murillo. “It’s not the fault of the dispatchers. They’re not getting the training they need and to me as a Warren County resident. That’s simply not good enough for my family.”

KCCI attempted to contact Warren County Sheriff Jim Lee several times Wednesday, but our calls were not returned.

Lee is retiring after 30 years.

Seven people are running to replace him: Preston Gebhart, Eric Haworth, Steve Spain and Stephen Stark, Dave Murillo, Brian Vos and Rick Champ.

The primary on June 5 will narrow the field to one Republican and one Democratic candidate.

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It was a man on the telephone who said his wife was just about to give birth. The couple was at home in Lebanon.

“The dad was initially on the line,” said Townsend. “The mom was screaming ‘get them here,’ in the background. The dad was a bit freaked out.”

The dad passed the telephone to a family friend, and Townsend, 35, swung into action.

A certified emergency medical dispatcher, Townsend said his seven years of experience and training kicked in. He spoke with the family friend, and they both went to work.

“I told her to follow my instructions to a T,” he said and instructed the woman to gather supplies — blankets, towels, string for the umbilical cord, etc. “And I told her to take a look.”

By that point, contractions were 30 seconds apart.

The woman looked, and saw the baby’s head.

Townsend kept issuing instructions.

Then, the baby’s head emerged. The delivery was swift — Townsend estimated three to five minutes between the time the head was first seen and when the infant made its debut.

“The next thing I knew, the baby was crying,” he said.

It was a girl.

Townsend and others at Sanford Regional Communications Center said the “dispatch delivery” is the first they can recall.

The woman to whom he was giving instructions “was great,” Townsend said.

Emergency medical dispatchers are required in all dispatching centers that are 911 public safety answering points. EMDs are required to take 24 hours of training annually and undergo recertification every two years, Townsend said.

“There are many different areas that get covered in training, but childbirth is one area that very rarely gets put into actual use for us, especially given all of the advancements in emergency response,” said John Lavallee, Townsend’s supervisor and the acting director of the communications center. “I cannot say enough great things regarding my dispatchers and our organization.”

Lavallee said his first reaction when he was informed of the birth was “complete admiration” for Townsend and the communications center.

“(He) is very ‘together’ under stress and all of our training really kicks in at times when most people would rightfully fall apart,” Lavallee wrote in an email response to questions. “Whether the call turns out with a happy ending, such as this successful delivery of a baby who is healthy and doing well, or not so happy ending resulting in the death of a loved one, either way, as the true ‘first responder,’ the emergency dispatcher touches the lives of many people and helps them through what could prove to be the most traumatic event in their lives.”

Federal privacy laws prevent rescue personnel from speaking specifically about patients without their consent, and the family has not responded to telephone calls for comment, said Rescue Chief Samantha Cole, but she said the woman who took Townsend’s instructions appreciated his guidance — and Cole was appreciative, too.

“Because of the dispatcher’s directions, the caller did a great job and did everything perfectly right,” Cole said. “She said he was awesome because he calmed her down and told her exactly what to do.

“I can tell you she was very happy with the dispatcher.”

For his part, Townsend, who began his dispatching career at York County Communications and moved to SRCC when the county center was disbanded, said it’s just part of the job.

“It was neat, though,” he said. “It reminds you of why you’re here.”

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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.”

Read the story here.

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.

Read the story here.

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.

Read the story here.

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.

Read the story here.

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.

Read the story here.

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.

Read the story here.

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.