By Karen Zapf
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PLUM, Pa. — Plum’s emergency services personnel now have another tool to help save lives.
Mayor Richard Hrivnak said this week that the police department and ambulance service have signed on to a translating service accessed by telephone.
The service, from DT Interpreting of Carnegie, will give Plum’s police officers and paramedics access to interpreters when, in an emergency, they encounter someone who speaks a foreign language.
“It’s another way to make sure we have the best equipment around,” Hrivnak said during Monday’s council meeting.
Police Chief Frank Monaco said the number for the interpreting service will be programmed into cell phones used by officers and paramedics and in the emergency phone in reception at Plum’s former dispatch center.
Monaco said Plum’s responders will have constant access to interpreters of about 150 languages. The borough will be billed only when the service is used at $1.25 per minute.
“It’s a pretty remarkable service,” Monaco said. “And there is no loss if we don’t like it. We can cancel it.”
Plum EMS Deputy Director Bob Moran welcomes the service. “We cover the turnpike from the Allegheny Valley exchange to Monroeville. and there is a good possibility that people who are injured don’t speak English, and it’s hard to communicate. It’s a great program.”
Plum’s ambulances and officers will have charts so victims and witnesses can point to the languages they speak.
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