A 911 call center will now be able to tell callers how to perform life-saving measures. The Emergency 911 Communication Center for Jonesboro and Craighead County launched a new initiative called Emergency Medical Dispatch. It was put into action for the first time a week ago.
โIf CPR is started before responders arrive, it increases the chances of survival by 7 to 10 percent every minute,โ said 911 Training Coordinator Christy Hundy. Emergency Medical Dispatch is now live for Jonesboro and Craighead County. If you call 911 for a medical emergency, trained dispatchers will now guide you through CPR, bleeding control, or choking intervention before first responders arrive.
All 26 dispatchers completed 40 hours of specialized training and passed written & practical exams. Hundley said this is something they have long wanted. โWeโre excited to bring it to the citizens of Jonesboro and Craighead County because if we are able to give those instructions, it heightens the potential to save a life,โ Hundley said.
Natalie Crockett, a pharmacist, said she learned some of these life-saving measures while going through school, but having someone on the phone walking her through the procedures during a stressful situation will be helpful. โWhen it comes to your loved one, and itโs happening right then, fast action is needed, and you might just freak out, lose youโre track of thought and not know what to do, so to have somebody walk you through that would be very beneficial,โ said Crockett.
This initiative has already been put to use. Last week, a dispatcher guided a caller through a CPR save. The dispatcher had only been working for less than 2 months. โIt just shows us that the program works and itโs doing what itโs intended to do, and it being a dispatcher in training, makes it all the more exciting for us,โ said Hundley.
But with the new initiative comes new information that will be needed. โThere are going to be a lot more questions than we have asked in the past, and weโre not just asking that information for the heck of it; weโre doing that to help the responders help them better,โ said Hundley. โGetting that information does not delay response; it just enhances it.โ Hundley added that this initiative is all about increasing the odds of saving a life.
