I shot this video on my camera phone at the Marine Corps Air Station, in Iwakuni City, Japan, during a weeklong Advanced Public Safety Dispatch course.  Marines are trained to handle almost anything - but from the looks of it, they can’t stomach a birthing video! 

You can register here to post your video footage and photos taken during a PowerPhone course.

•  Know the signs of a heart attack: pain in the chest, neck and arms, chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea and extreme fatigue
•  Never assume: A heart attack can happen to anyone, at any age.  Heart disease is the third leading cause of death among women aged 25-44 years and the second leading cause of death among women aged 45-64 years.
•  Stay current: Make sure your dispatcher’s are up to date with their Emergency Medical Dispatch certification and CPR protocols
• Know your community: Familiarize your organization with locations of local hospitals and clinics.  This is essential in bad weather situations, desolate areas or when it may be difficult to get a responder to the victim quickly
• The Journalistic- Investigative approach: Find out as much information as possible such as who is home, age of the victim, etc.
• The Where within the Where: Is this person in a retirement community?  Is there one centralized address with numerous apartment numbers?  This information is critical, as precious minutes can be lost trying to pinpoint a precise location.
• Communication: Encourage inter-office conversation.  Employees who talk to one another, have an easier time dealing with Critical Incidents, such handling heart attack or suicide calls.
• Training: Encourage your agency to send your call takers to Stress Identification and Management courses.  These classes are designed to help your dispatchers cope with the daily challenges they face.  Less stress = less risk of a heart attack for your employees.

Knowing the signs, symptoms and how to handle heart attack calls are an essential part of crisis communications training and instrumental in saving lives.

• Has your dispatch center done anything to highlight the importance of American Heart Month? 
• Can you offer other agencies suggestions to maximize the safety of heart attack victims?   

Dispatcher Alexia Feasel (center) was honored for saving the life of Angela Gibson (left). PowerPhone's Dispatcher Recognition Award was presented by EMD instructor Scot Sorensen.

Through her Emergency Medical Dispatch training, Alexia Feasel, a Tiffin, Ohio dispatcher, guided a 911 caller through the Heimlich maneuver, and saved a life.  Congratulations goes out to Alexia for her quick thinking and calm demeanor, turning what could have been a tragedy into a great triumph.

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Also read local press coverage

“… I just wanted to let you know the tactics I learned in my 911 training class paid off. I had a man call in who didn’t want to live anymore. He wouldn’t tell us where he was but I was able to get him to talk about things he liked… He had his 12 year-old daughter with him and I talked him into letting me speak to her. As she didn’t know the address (she didn’t live there) I had her read me the license plate from her father’s car. We ran the plate and dispatched officers who were able to prevent the man from harming himself or others. I want you to know that the crisis communications training I received truly helped me that night.  I just wanted to say thank you for helping me save a little girl’s daddy.”

Congratulations Danielle and thanks for sharing your story with us! We’re proud of our reputation and even more proud of the professionalism of PowerPhone graduates such as yourself. You have proved once again that emergency dispatchers are the first person on the scene of any crime, fire or medical emergency. Your actions can and do save lives!

“…while administering the exam an obviously intoxicated person walked into my class. My old DWI investigative skills came to life and I engaged him in conversation and asked him to step outside with me. As I did this, I asked the host to contact his HQ and send a car over. I stalled as long as I could before the man made a dash for his car. I briefly considered physically restraining him but reason took over as I knew a patrol was enroute, and to let the active duty (not retired) cops do their thing. They were able to take him into custody without incident and he is now in county jail…. Just another day in the classroom!  - George

Another great story for the PowerPhone archives.  Thanks for helping to get that person off the street George.

PowerPhone training classes, teach dispatcher’s how to handle tough calls such as these.

A fire-rescue dispatcher helped an Orlando family avert a Christmas Day tragedy when he provided them with life-saving directions to revive a toddler pulled from a swimming pool.

“You never want to get those kinds of calls, any [calls] involving a child, especially on Christmas,” said Scott Anderson, 26, the 911 operator for the Orange County Fire Rescue Department who calmed the toddler’s family as paramedics raced to the home on Dominguin Street in Sun Haven Estates. “It very easily could have had a very different ending.”

The child, identified as 2-year-old Ranisha Frias, was discovered in the pool about 1 p.m. by her 7-year-old brother, said Cpl. Susan Soto, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which also responded.

Read full story here

Ohio has created a culture of tolerance for domestic violence by not enforcing the laws on its books and often treating the crimes with leniency, a newspaper investigation found.

A four-month investigation by The Columbus Dispatch whose results were published Sunday found that 45 percent of about 75,000 domestic violence responses by law enforcement in 2008 ended without an arrest. The figure is close to the national average, and comes despite the fact that Ohio law enables arrests to be made in cases of domestic violence.

Read full article here

A recent article in The Journal News profiles agencies using Emergency Medical Dispatch and how it’s helping them offer life-saving assistance in emergencies.

In the past two months, Westchester County police dispatchers have helped people with no medical training revive two heart attack victims by talking them through CPR, said Anthony Sutton, the county’s emergency services coordinator.

“Those two people are walking around today because of EMD,” Sutton said. “It really is the difference between life and death.”

Read the full story here.

George Deuchar, PowerPhone’s Director of Training, conducted two Active Shooting Response training programs for the Beaumont 9-1-1 Operations Center in May. During the programs, George emphasized the need for dispatchers to see active shootings from “the other side” by understanding what responders go through and how they prepare to handle such incidents.

Carolyn Lewis, Beaumont’s 9-1-1 Center Training/QA Supervisor, agreed. After obtaining permission from the Chief of Police, Beaumont’s dispatchers had the opportunity to suit up in gear and go through an active shooting simulation. Carolyn was kind enough to share some photos of the training with us.

Letter from Carolyn (PDF format; 125 KB)

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