You can call 9-1-1 from a pay phone, and the call is FREE?
Do you know when to call or use 9-1-1?
If a person dials 9-1-1 in an area not served
with a 9-1-1 system, they should receive a
telephone intercept that will notify the caller
that they do not have 9-1-1 service and that
they should hang up and dial the appropriate
emergency seven digit number or dial "0" for
the operator. There are urban/rural areas
that utilize a fast busy signal instead of the
intercept. Some territories are 9-1-1 capable,
but are not served by a 9-1-1 PSAP. Usually
this is due to an emergency agency not wanting
to participate in the system. Instead they
utilize their own seven digit emergency number.
The PSAP, upon receipt of the call, will
notify the appropriate agency of the call,
even though they do not serve that emergency
agency.
Benefits of 9-1-1
The major benefits of 9-1-1 to citizens and
public safety agencies should be understood by
those involved in the planning and implementation
of 9-1-1 systems. The means by which
9-1-1 provides this benefit is primarily by
saving time in the overall response of a public
safety agency. The total time required in
response to a perceived emergency is the sum of:
1.Time from citizen perception
of an emergency situation to the time he or she
reaches the correct
public safety agency;
2.Time from reception of a call
by the agency to the time an emergency service vehicle
is dispatched to
the scene of the emergency;
3.Time from the dispatch of the
vehicle to the time it arrives at the scene of the
emergency. A 9-1-1
system can save valuable minutes in that initial period of time
when reaching the
appropriate emergency agency can mean life or death.
A number of surveys have been conducted on
the problems citizens have in reaching their
public safety agencies. These surveys showed
that less than 50% of the citizens knew the
telephone numbers of their own public safety
agencies, and when citizens are traveling,
only a very few would know the appropriate
agencies, much less the emergency telephone
numbers of those agencies. Citizens who did
not know the correct emergency telephone
number relied on telephone books or direct
calls dial "0"- to telephone company operators.
Telephone operators have historically provided
the citizen who does not know the correct
number with assistance through dial "0" service.
However, these operators are not highly
trained in emergency service requirements
and they must search the telephone directories
for the telephone number to the correct agency.
An additional complication with the use of
the telephone operator for emergencies is
the gradual reduction of the number of operator
centers that has been caused by the automation
of telephone switching centers. An
operator reached through dialing "0" in an
emergency could be located over 200 miles from
the caller and would, therefore, be ill-equipped
to assist the citizen in selecting the correct
agency.
Average call delays for citizens not knowing
the correct number ranged from one to 3.5
minutes, depending upon the agency type and
the number of agencies contacted before
the correct agency was reached. Fully 20%
of the citizens surveyed had an average delay
of 3.5 minutes because of failure to reach
the correct agency of the first contact.
Additionally, 10% of these citizens needed
assistance from more than one type of agency.
These long delays in citizen access to public
safety agencies are caused by citizen
confusion about agency identification and
the lack of easily located emergency number. By
utilizing 9-1-1 as a universal emergency number,
both of these problem areas will be
eliminated. The three digit number is easily
remembered, and trained answering personnel
can quickly identify the correct agency and
provided for the transfer to the emergency
information to that agency.
The benefits of reduced response time by emergency
service agencies are quite clear. A
study of the President's Commission on Law
Enforcement showed a direct relationship
between apprehension of criminals and low
response time. A reduction of an average of
only one minute in fire response time could
probably save millions of dollars annually in any
state. Finally, a reduction in response time
for ambulance and rescue units will reduce the
death rate in heart attack, injury accident
and other life and death medical emergencies. An
important but somewhat less visible benefit
of 9-1-1 is the more efficient, more
cost-effective, use of scarce emergency service
resources for the public benefit.
The call taker should ask you "which police dept." City (Hagerstown), County, or State? You then should request one. It does matter which agency because the City police only respond to the Hagerstown City Limits, Sheriff's Department and MSP do not usually respond to Hagerstown, they cover the county. If you do NOT know who you need the call taker will switch you over to one, usually based on where you live.
For an Ambulance:
The call taker will take all information from you and then dispatch
an appropriate response, based on the Emergency Medical Dispatch
system. This system recommends the appropriate units based on the answers
to Key Questions that the call taker/dispatcher will ask you. While
these questions may seem time consuming to you, they are actually helping
you while on the phone, even before and after the ambulance is dispatched.
"Questions you will be asked are:"
1) Location / Address where help is needed?
2) Your Phone number?
3) What is the Chief Complaint / main reason that you are calling
for an Ambulance?
4) How many people are hurt?
5) Patients Age?
6) Male or Female?
7) Is the Patient Conscious?
8) Is the Patient Breathing?
This is the minimum information that we would like to be able to obtain and then there may be a few more questions as to what exactly is going on. The answers that you provide will allow us to send the Appropriate Unit (s) to help the patient, but most of all they will allow the call taker/dispatcher to offer life saving procedures over the phone to you, to help the patient, even before responding units get there. This has been proven time and again to help save lives.
For Fire or Ambulance the call taker will take your information and
handle the dispatching, etc. of the call.
For the Fire Department:
Again, the Call taker / Dispatcher will take all your information and
then give any advise and Dispatch the Appropriate Fire Company (s).
Several things to remember when reporting a fire;
