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The Academy is happy to provide the following resources to its members and the public. All material is listed for informational purposes only and is in no way endorsed by the National Academies unless otherwise noted. The information made available here is a service and is subject to review or change without notice. The Academy also accepts no responsibility for the correctness of these resourses, although maxium effort has been made toward accuracy and completeness.
Current Events
Communication Centers using the Priority System Protocol (PDS) made it into the news with these following stories.
Dispatcher provided CPR saves drowning infant
May 18, 2010
The Rockland 911 Dispatchers Association will honor dispatcher Peter Medina, EMD, of the Ramapo (NY) Police Department, at its June 6, 2010, meeting for his efforts to help save a drowning infant. According to a press release announcing the award, Medina CPR provided Pre-Arrival Instructions to the mother of an infant found face down and not breathing in a five gallon bucket of water. The child was breathing when EMS arrived and was reported well on his way to recovery.
Dispatcher Stays On Line with Fire Victim
May 16, 2010
Free-lance Star, Virginia
At about 1 a.m. on Feb. 5, Spotsylvania County 911 dispatcher Domonique Curry answered a call that would change her life.
Sandy Hill, a 43-year-old local actress and singer, called 911 to report that her Spotswood Furnace Road house was on fire. Hill was trapped in her second-floor bedroom with smoke funneling in.
Curry remembers hearing sirens in the background, which gave her confidence that Hill would be rescued.
So in the meantime, Curry tried to get Hill to safety.
In a calm voice, Curry told Hill to open one of her bedroom windows or try to break it. When Hill was unable to do either task, Curry told her to drop to the ground and cover her face.
Curry told Hill, who stayed on her cell phone, to use clothing to block smoke from coming into the room.
"I didn't feel panicked at that moment because I knew units were there," Curry said during an interview Wednesday in Spotsylvania County Sheriff Howard Smith's office.
Two Lives Saved
Beaver Dam Dailly Citizen
May 17, 2010
JUNEAU - A disabled man who was stuck inside a burning house and man who wasn't breathing after suddenly seizing are both alive today thanks to harrowing police work on Sunday.
Dodge County Central Dispatch received a frantic 911 call from Barbara Riese, 48, who reported that her boyfriend George Hanson, 59, was stuck inside a burning house at N2189 Highway EE in the town of Ashippun just before 10 p.m. Sunday.
Responding officers and emergency officials found smoke and flames billowing from the house.
Dodge County Sheriff's Patrol Captain Molly Soblewski said Riese told officers that Hanson, who is paralyzed, was on the floor of the hallway inside the smoke-filled house.
Deputies Eric Krueger and Jermey Wolfe quickly jumped into action.
Public Safety Telecommunicators Week
April 13, 2010
Sheridan, Wyo.
With phones ringing and papers rustling, the Dispatch Center on Monday morning was bustling in typical fashion at the Sheridan Police Department.
In between taking calls and sending officers to various locations, Dispatcher Kat Hersman took some time to chat about her job. She alternates between focusing her calls for the Sheriff's Office and the Police Department. Hersman has been with Dispatch for 2 1/2 years, and she tells us what she likes about the position.
Greenwood honors E-911 staff during national appreciation week
April 13, 2010
Greenwood, S.C.
When there is a crisis, local residents are often forced to pick up the phone and dial 911.
The voice on the other end of the phone could literally be a lifesaver.
This week is one in which those voices are honored.
April 11-17 is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. Emergency telecommunications workers from across the nation will be honored for their work throughout the week.
“This is a week set aside nationally to celebrate dispatchers and call takers with 911,” said Kim Douglas, assistant director of E-911 communications in Greenwood. “Here in Greenwood, we have a staff of 25, with four to five people on a shift at a time.”
Emergency calls always a challenge
April 12, 2010
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
In times of trouble, Kelly Blanch’s calm and controlled voice can be a lifeline.
The 10-year 911 emergency dispatcher veteran has helped deliver babies, sent ambulances and fire crews racing to emergencies and been an unseen guardian for thousands of Central Albertans a three-digit phone call away.
It’s a job that Blanch has come to love, first in Grande Prairie and for the last three years in Red Deer, where she and 15 others are responsible for making sure calls get routed to 45 fire and ambulance services. Police calls are passed to RCMP dispatchers.
“I like the variety. I like the shift work. I like answering the phone and not knowing what you’ll get.”
Arlington girls honored for thinking fast during emergencies
April 12, 2010
Arlington, Texas
When Jamonica Miller's father had a seizure and crashed his Honda Accord while they were on Northeast Loop 820 in North Richland Hills, she didn't waste any time getting him help.
"I'm only 9 years old, and it is raining outside, and my dad, he is having a seizure," the fourth-grader from Arlington can be heard clearly saying on a recording of her 911 call from a cellphone. She spotted a Staples store nearby that an operator could use as a landmark and quickly relayed the make and color of her dad's car.
Her quick thinking and similar actions by an Arlington 6-year-old were honored Monday by area emergency responders -- including officials from Tarrant and Denton counties' 911 districts -- as they proclaimed April National 911 Education Month. Officials said the girls' actions are a good example of how training children to use the emergency calling system properly pays off.
Just another night at Elgin Dispatch Center
April 10, 2010
Elgin, Ill.
The most urgent call to the Elgin 911 dispatch center on a recent Friday night was an "attempt to locate" request from the Bartlett police.
A car registered in Elgin was found burning in that village, and officers there needed to track down the owner. Between officers on the street and dispatch operators in Elgin, it took more than a half hour to find the owner at work and tell the young man that the car he thought was parked outside his work place actually was now gutted in Bartlett.
It was a typical Friday night in Elgin, said Jennifer Phillips, emergency dispatch coordinator at the Elgin Police Department.
911 center helps save lives
April 10, 2010
Kinston, N.C.
Lenoir County’s 911 Center never closes for business because emergencies require 24-hour attention.
At any minute during the day or night, something unexpected can happen that needs medical or law enforcement response. The county’s 911 center at Rhodes Avenue works around the clock to ensure that the correct personnel respond to emergency and non-emergency calls.
Paige Johnson, Lenoir County 911 Center interim operations manager, said Friday that the center averages about 200 calls from the public each day. The center employs 18 employees who each work 12-hour shifts.
