Maine Dispatchers Adjust to New Training Mandate

Dispatchers are becoming Washington County's lifeline for anyone with a medical emergency, at least while the ambulance is on its way.

All you have to do is dial 911.

Cindy Rossi, emergency medical dispatch director at the Washington County Regional Communication Center on Court Street, is just one of the consoling voices on the other end of the line.

The county has 16 dispatchers, nine of them full time. They work two to a shift and handle hundreds of calls, not just the ones dealing with a medical emergency.

The medical emergency mandate began at the first of the year.

Before the standardized basic training medical course was offered last year for 911 operators, 40 percent of Maine's public safety answering centers were unable to provide emergency medical information.

To address that gap, Stephen Bunker, director of the state Emergency Services Communications Bureau, along with Maine EMS, pushed legislation that was enacted in the 2005 legislative session. Maine has become the 20th state to adopt mandatory training sessions for 911 operators.

And other communities are on board. In January, Hancock County commissioners approved the purchase of computers needed for the service there.

The dispatchers went to school to learn emergency medical dispatch protocols. "The county decided to go with medical priority, which is the EMD protocol that we [now have]," Rossi said in an interview. The three-day course was intense and they all returned as EMD dispatchers.

The dispatch center is in the basement of the Washington County Courthouse.

Rossi and her EMD partner, fellow dispatcher Richard Moore, sit in front of terminals where telephone numbers and addresses appear on their screens as soon as a 911 call is made.

The county has four 911 telephone lines and all calls land in Machias regardless if the caller is in Calais or Columbia Falls.

It begins with a telephone call. "911, what is the address of your emergency?" Rossi asks. Dispatchers ask for a caller's address and telephone number to verify the information they see on the computer.

"Just in case our call gets discontinued and we need to call [them] back, we have [their] phone number," she said. Depending on the call, an ambulance is dispatched.

Working with flipcharts, she asks for details of the emergency. In the event of a heart attack, she will ask questions about chest pains, or if there is any change in skin color, or whether or not the person feels clammy.

Often callers feel uncomfortable with the questions, but Rossi and Moore reassure them that the more information they have, the better they can handle the call.

While Rossi speaks with the caller, Moore relays that information to the ambulance attendant. There are 33 protocol cards covering every emergency.

"In our class, the instructors that we had said this set of protocols will cover ... up to a million questions," she said.

And language is not an issue. Rossi said. Machias has a direct line to a service in California that interprets the call for the dispatcher. It's linked nationwide to 911 systems. With more non-English speaking people living in the state, that service is necessary.

"Whatever information we need, they will [interpret] and we can get the appropriate agency to the person," she said.

And there have been rewarding moments. Recently, Rossi helped an elderly couple.

"It was really nice because she at the end of it, I could hear the siren coming and the ambulance was there, and I knew they'd be OK," Rossi said. "And when we discontinued the call she said. 'Ma'am, I really want to say thank you for staying on the phone with me. You reassured me.'"

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