It will be two years in August since the emergency dispatch center in Black Hawk County, Iowa, became the first in the nation to accept 911 text messages. Since then, the center has received only about 30 text emergency calls, says Judy Flores, director of the Black Hawk Consolidated Communications Center. Yet she sees the technology’s potential. “One person texted that her ex-boyfriend had broken in, violating a no-contact order, and she was hiding from him,” Flores says. “She wanted to be quiet. We made an arrest.” She says the system also helps “level the playing field” for the deaf and hearing-impaired community, who typically require TDD equipment to access 911.
Black Hawk began receiving 911 texts after updating its phone and communications system. Intrado Inc., which provided the communications software, asked Black Hawk if it was interested in becoming the beta test site for a 911 text system. The PSAP initially could receive only texts from people within the county, but it recently began accepting texts for 911 statewide, Flores says.
When a caller texts 911, his or her phone system alerts dispatchers, and the text message appears on the dispatcher’s computer screen. The caller is then prompted to tell the dispatcher his or her ZIP code or nearest city, and the dispatcher can type a reply.
Still, there are drawbacks to texting, and for that reason, one of the first questions dispatchers ask texters is if they are able to call, Flores says. Dispatchers can tell a lot about the seriousness of a situation by the tone of the caller’s voice and from background noises; details also are more easily shared through voice than text. “Text is the way the younger generation communicates, but we still stress that if you can call 911, voice is still the better way to communicate,” she says.
Part of the reason for the slow volume of 911 texts is that only one carrier, T-Mobile, has enabled its phones to send 911 texts, Flores says. She is encouraging other cell phone carriers to make the upgrades to enable 911 texting on their cell phones—so far without success. The long-term solution, she says, is for the Federal Communications Commission to mandate that phones be 911 text-enabled.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police has more on Black Hawk’s text system at theiacp.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket =w3ir14pI3ak%3D&tabid=728.
Add Child Burn Prevention to Your Community Outreach: FEMA
As part of its campaign to promote child burn prevention, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has asked the National EMS Management Association to encourage its members to add child burn prevention to community outreach efforts.
A report released in February by FEMA’s U.S. Fire Administration found that 52 percent of fire deaths in 2007 occurred in children ages 4 and under and that African-American children are at increased risk of death from fire.
One of the major leading causes of residential building fire deaths and injuries for children ages 9 and under in 2007 was “playing with a heat source,” including lighters, matches, fireworks, candles and stoves. Children in this age group, in these scenarios, accounted for 93 percent of deaths and 38 percent of injuries.
Get more information on childhood burn prevention at fema.gov/help/widgets/kids_fire.html.
States Poorly Prepared to Respond to Major Radiation Crisis
A survey of state health departments finds serious gaps in preparedness for response to a radiation crisis such as a disaster at a nuclear plant or a terrorist attack, according to a report posted online March 14 by the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.
Researchers from the Florida Department of Health and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists conducted a survey in 2010 of the status of radiation preparedness at state health departments. The questionnaire was divided into four categories: preparedness and response capability; radiation emergency staffing levels; local relationships; and interagency/intra-agency coordination on radiation emergency preparedness and response.
Thirty-eight, or 76 percent, of state health departments responded to the survey, including 26 of the 31 states with nuclear
power plants. Only about 55 percent of states had a written radiation response plan that included a detailed section for dealing with communication issues during a radiation emergency, according to the report. “Without a comprehensive plan, states in which a radiation emergency occurs are likely to mount inefficient, ineffective, inappropriate, or tardy responses that could result in (preventable) loss of life,” the report says.
And most states had done little to no planning for public health surveillance after a radiation event, including assessing ex- posure, environmental sampling or human health. “The nation remains poorly prepared to respond adequately to a major radia- tion emergency incident,” the report reads.
The authors encourage states to improve their radiation emergency response plans, including increasing training of public health personnel in radiation response; conducting strategic planning to increase collaboration; developing exercise templates for radiation release scenarios; and coordinating with other local, state and federal agencies on medical treatment planning and hospital surge preparedness.
The special issue, Nuclear Preparedness, can be viewed at the journal’s website, dmphp.org.
Team of Physician-paramedics Responds to Calls in Two Pennsylvania Counties
EMS and firefighters in two Pennsylvania counties can call a team of physicians who are also trained as paramedics for help in dealing with difficult medical situations, according to news reports.
The Einstein Physician Response Team, the only one in the state and one of only a handful in the nation, is made up of 10 physicians who can be dispatched to the field to administer more complex treatments or to make decisions that are beyond the scope of EMS, according to the Doylestown Intelligencer. The physicians are certified paramedics and have EMS experience, David Jaslow, M.D., director of Philadelphia’s Albert Einstein Medical Center’s Division of EMS, Operational Public Health and Disaster Medicine and medical director of the Bucks County Rescue Squad, told the newspaper. “We’re not just doctors who say, ‘I think I want to play in this world,’” he said.
In a recent case, firefighters spent two hours trying to extricate a passenger from a vehicle mangled after it crashed into a utility pole. Responders were unsure if it was safe to flip the car with the driver still inside and called for the physician response team to assist.
Jaslow recognized the need for physicians to be available for field work in unusual cases after being called on by responders to amputate the arms of a man trapped in industrial equipment.
The areas covered by the physician response team, which was launched in November 2010 with a $25,000 grant from the Albert Einstein Society, include Bucks and Montgomery counties in suburban Philadelphia.
Read the full story here: phillyburbs.com/news/local/ the_intelligencer_news/article_ac8fe869-7547-51b7-a2bb- ebd32d8a9c72.html.
