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Plymouth Township Police Communications Supervisor Cynthia
Fell
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Don Howard – Staff Writer
The true first responders in emergencies aren't the police
or fire personnel who appear at the scene of a crisis.
They are the 911 dispatchers or Public Service Aids, who
answer the initial calls for emergency service in the crisis situations that
can take place any time of the day or night.
The constant management of those emergency calls can take a
toll on 911 dispatchers.
Last year, Public Service Aids in Plymouth Township fielded
13,791 911 calls and responded to 34,998 requests for service from both the
City of Plymouth and Plymouth Township residents in need of emergency help.
The unique dispatch system in the township includes nine
full-time professionals on the front lines of stress 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, every day of the year. The
dispatchers answer the initial calls for police, fire, and all emergencies and
provide dispatch and communication support services. They make split-second
decisions regarding people who are very often in trauma, suffering emotional
situations, reporting a fire, a weather emergency or even a water main break.
Part of the dispatcher's job is to remain professional, calm and collected no
matter how dire the situation might be.
Thanks to help from a $200,000 state public safety, grant
fostered by State Rep. Jeff Noble last year, Plymouth Township
Police Communications Director Cynthia Fell, a five-year
department veteran, said she is more than pleased with the recently completed
remake of the communication center that cost an estimated $400,000. She said
the upgraded dimmable LED lighting, temperature control, modern elevated
workstations, new carpet, chairs, large screen monitors and state of the art
software make her team more efficient and enhances response time and better
protects callers.
The new computer
software called “Rapid-Lite” uses a computer aided dispatch terminal together
with a touch screen telephone interface and instantly locates any caller's
phone location via GPS and places an icon marking the spot on a large monitor
screen. The manufacturer of the new Rapid SOS software offered it to the
township free of charge.
“ 911, What's your
emergency?” the answering dispatcher responds to every caller on his or her
headset microphone. The dispatchers can even respond to text messages, if
necessary with the new system and within seconds the call is categorized into
the system and the dispatch process commences.
Fell said that on the average, a dispatcher is only on the
phone for 30 seconds during a medical emergency before the caller is
transferred to the back-up service, Huron Valley Ambulance Co. ( HVA) where the
critical information is again taken from the caller. The HVA dispatcher locates
an available ambulance and often provides emergency triage and medical advice
for critically ill patients by phone, using trained and certified Emergency
Medical Dispatchers, EMDs. With set protocols the EMDs can provide CPR
instruction and other pre-hospital advice, when appropriate.
Five of Fell's nine Public Service Aides are already trained
and certified in EMD. Because the department is not entirely EMD certified, the
dispatchers rely on HVA to provide medical advice to callers. Fell said the
majority of her staff says they would like to be able to offer EMD services.
“Maybe someday,” she added.
The dispatch protocol varies for City of Plymouth callers. The city relies on the
police department as first on-scene responders, then the on-call
Northville-City Fire Department, then HVA, mainly because the fire department
is not certified with paramedics or Advanced Life Support (ALS), unlike the
Township Fire Department, where fire department personnel are the first
on-scene responders.
