Plano Star-courier > News
Changes coming to Plano's emergency dispatch protocol
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
The city of Plano is introducing a new emergency dispatch system hoped to increase efficiency in the face of an ever-growing demand for emergency medical services.
The new protocol, known as medical priority dispatch, will become effective March 16.
Currently, 911 operators dispatch at least one siren-engaged fire truck and ambulance to all medical calls. Under the new system, the level of response will vary depending on the urgency of the call.
The engine-and-ambulance model will remain for more serious calls such as heart attacks and fires, but less urgent calls -- twisted ankles and cut fingers, for example -- may prompt only an ambulance without lights and siren engaged.
Fire Chief Brian Crawford said the introduction of the system comes at a time when 70 percent of all 911 calls are for medical services, a figure that will likely increase to 85 to 90 percent within the next five or six years.
The aim of the system, Crawford said, is to increase the level of service without adding new resources -- therefore increasing the budget -- and making better use of resources already on hand.
"When you call 911, you're going to get a response, but you're going to get a more intelligent response based on your specific need," he said. "Plano Fire-Rescue is going to do its part to make sure you get what you need while leaving resources available for your neighbors who may have the next emergency."
Under the new system, dispatchers will ask a series of questions to determine the seriousness of the situation and dispatch resources according to one of four emergency levels.
Ron Timmons, director of emergency management and public safety communications, told the City Council Monday that emergeny situations will still see a full response. Dispatchers will also have the ability to override the protocol depending the individual circumstances of the call, he said.
"There's a lot of reasons why the normal routine would be interrupted, but under most circumstances we would be following this national protocol in processing calls and deciding what information was gathered and what the response should be accordingly," he said.
Medical priority dispatch is not unheard of in the United States. Salt Lake City's fire department was the first to implement the system in the 1970s, and today about 82 percent of large cities use some sort of prioritized system, Crawford said.
"As fire chief and city officials, we have to look on the horizon in five years and make sure we strategically place our resources ... so we can meet those needs of 2015 today," he said.
Crawford said a medical priority dispatch system was implemented during his tenure with the Shreveport Fire Department in Louisiana. The transition decreased response times while increasing coverage after implementation.
"It did exactly what we thought it was going to do, and when I came to Plano, they were already piloting the [system], and I was very excited to see them already moving in that direction," he said.
Meanwhile, Timmons said dispatchers already ask many of the questions necessary for prioritized dispatch when giving callers pre-arrival instructions.
Any person in need of emergency situations should be ready to give an address or description of their exact location before describing their situation, he said.
"The greatest opportunity that people have to shorten the questioning sequence and to reclaim any time necessary for the response is to be ready to give their location," he said. "... Invaluable time can be lost as people are trying to find where they are."
To see the new medical priority dispatch system in action, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2fLOQaQNbE.
The new protocol, known as medical priority dispatch, will become effective March 16.
Currently, 911 operators dispatch at least one siren-engaged fire truck and ambulance to all medical calls. Under the new system, the level of response will vary depending on the urgency of the call.
The engine-and-ambulance model will remain for more serious calls such as heart attacks and fires, but less urgent calls -- twisted ankles and cut fingers, for example -- may prompt only an ambulance without lights and siren engaged.
Fire Chief Brian Crawford said the introduction of the system comes at a time when 70 percent of all 911 calls are for medical services, a figure that will likely increase to 85 to 90 percent within the next five or six years.
The aim of the system, Crawford said, is to increase the level of service without adding new resources -- therefore increasing the budget -- and making better use of resources already on hand.
"When you call 911, you're going to get a response, but you're going to get a more intelligent response based on your specific need," he said. "Plano Fire-Rescue is going to do its part to make sure you get what you need while leaving resources available for your neighbors who may have the next emergency."
Under the new system, dispatchers will ask a series of questions to determine the seriousness of the situation and dispatch resources according to one of four emergency levels.
Ron Timmons, director of emergency management and public safety communications, told the City Council Monday that emergeny situations will still see a full response. Dispatchers will also have the ability to override the protocol depending the individual circumstances of the call, he said.
"There's a lot of reasons why the normal routine would be interrupted, but under most circumstances we would be following this national protocol in processing calls and deciding what information was gathered and what the response should be accordingly," he said.
Medical priority dispatch is not unheard of in the United States. Salt Lake City's fire department was the first to implement the system in the 1970s, and today about 82 percent of large cities use some sort of prioritized system, Crawford said.
"As fire chief and city officials, we have to look on the horizon in five years and make sure we strategically place our resources ... so we can meet those needs of 2015 today," he said.
Crawford said a medical priority dispatch system was implemented during his tenure with the Shreveport Fire Department in Louisiana. The transition decreased response times while increasing coverage after implementation.
"It did exactly what we thought it was going to do, and when I came to Plano, they were already piloting the [system], and I was very excited to see them already moving in that direction," he said.
Meanwhile, Timmons said dispatchers already ask many of the questions necessary for prioritized dispatch when giving callers pre-arrival instructions.
Any person in need of emergency situations should be ready to give an address or description of their exact location before describing their situation, he said.
"The greatest opportunity that people have to shorten the questioning sequence and to reclaim any time necessary for the response is to be ready to give their location," he said. "... Invaluable time can be lost as people are trying to find where they are."
To see the new medical priority dispatch system in action, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2fLOQaQNbE.
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