Cincinnati Post (published as The Cincinnati Post.) - July 15, 1988 - page 1 July 15, 1988 | Cincinnati Post (published as The Cincinnati Post.) | Cincinnati, Ohio | Page 1 • • . ·-• ' ...... ... .. ,,, ' -, 'lo.~ lliw- j.'- ' :I ·'.··1~ ·· ~ . .(• ,. ' J ~·- ; .... ... ,, ~;-- .. :lj~· .-..... '1- ... :i ~... ;~~- ~; 'II·~ ..... , •••• .. ' .. ·1 ·-.. ~' Inadequate staffing, procedures cause delays By Sarah Sturmon effective procedures and unfa­ and Molly Kavanaugh miliarity with the computers. Post staff reporters In the past tour months, 10 cases of delays in fire dispatch­ When a bleeding Walthan ing, ranging from five minutes Brown staggered into the Alco­ to 2½ hours, have been docu­ holic Drop Inn Center this mented by the Cincinnati Fire week, staff Immediately tele­ Division. Four other complaints, phoned for help. regarding callers who got a re­ Operators at Cincinnati's cording instead of a person who emergency communications could help them, have been center quickly took the infor­ filed. mation and it was sent simulta­ Criticisms became public last neously to police and fire month when a Mt. Washington dispatchers couple wrote City Hall com­ Police were dispatched in two plaining about being put on minutes. But firefighters, who hold while their camper burned provide medical assistance, in their driveway. Additional didn't get information from problems noted by flreflghters their dispatchers for five min­ have since come to light. utes. Assistant Fire Chief W1lllam Brown died of multiple stab Miller sald the delay at the wounds. Horace Payne, 34, of Drop Inn Center was caused by Madtsonvllle. has been charged two dispatching complications. with murder in his death Dispatchers were trying to de­ The case 1s an example of termine whether Brown's as­ several problems fire personnel sailant was still on the scene, have encountered since March meaning the situation could be 27, when they merged with po­ life-threatening for firefighters, lice emergency communications and whether the nearest tire and began using computer-as­ company, which the computer sisted dispatching said was unavailable, was still Emergency communications on another run. experts say problems with Cin­ Miller said the dispatcher cinnati's new fire dispatching followed correct procedures, but system likely stem from three acknowledged a flve-mlnute de- factors: inadequate staffing, in- Please see DISPATCH, 6A © This entire service and/or content portions thereof are copyrig hted by NewsBank and/or its content providers. Cincinnati Post (published as The Cincinnati Post.) - July 15, 1988 - page 6 July 15, 1988 | Cincinnati Post (published as The Cincinnati Post.) | Cincinnati, Ohio | Page 6 • Baltimore County's personnel also receive more training. The IS county requires three weeks' From Page 1A classroom training, five to six lay ls unacceptable. weeks of on-the-job training, A national expert on po- and cardiopulmonary resuscita­ lice/ f lre communications tion instruction. Some opera­ agreed. tors are cross-trained as ''There ls no reason in the dispatchers world why those kind of delays Cfnctnnat! 's operators receive should be occurring," said Ron­ two weeks ln the classroom and ald Vegamast, a Minneapolis, four to five weeks on the Job. Minn., consultant on public They do not get CPR or any safety communications. The cross-training. 18-year veteran of the business '' A little medical knowledge was the consultant hired by ls dangerous," Schnelder said in Hamilton County to help put in explaining why the city doesn't place Its 911 emergency system, require CPR training. He added which allows callers to dial that the city was worried about three digits for police, fire or liability medical help. Baltimore officials said their The city, Hamilton County llablllty concerns led them to and surrounding counties are doctors who helped them write scheduled to begin a joint 911 a book on medical procedures. system on Aug. 17. The city's Operators are instructed to read new dispatching system is part aloud from the book while as­ of the transition sisting wl th CPR. ''The key ls saying, 'Equip­ Adjusting to computer dis­ patching takes time, experts ment is on the way Meanwhile, say. Two years ago when Cin­ here is what you can do if you cinnati Police switched from are willing to,''' said Chief The­ manual to computer-aided dis­ odore Weintraub, head of Baltl­ patching, seven people quit be­ m ore County Central Communications. cause they said the technology Vegamast also said the city was too dlf f icul t, said Capt. may need to improve operating Kenneth Schneider, who heads and dispatching procedures by: Cincinnati's dispatching center B Establishing a call holding Miller said the transition has system where non-emergency been difficult for fJre dispatch­ calls can be held when other ers: ''It hasn't been hard for calls are stacking up. them to learn the computer, but • Requiring immediate it has been difficult for them to transfer of any address at learn how to become fast at it." which a fire or medical emer­ But in addition to this tem­ gency ls taking place. Currently, porary unfamiliarity, the com­ an operator takes down all the mun ic a tlons experts say tnformatlon from a caller be­ problems in staffing - both size fore passing any information on and training - may be contrib­ to a dispatcher uting to problems. a Allowing dispatchers to lis­ Bal tlmore County, Md., ten in on operators' conversa­ which went to 911 in 1980, uses a tions wt th callers during dispatching system similar to emergencies so that extra fire Cincinnati's and Hamilton equipment can be dispatched as County's. National experts point needed. to their system as one of the best or its type. The city system does not al­ low for call holding or dispatch­ Bal tlmore County's popula­ ers interloping on conversations tion ls nearly twice Cincinnati's, with operators. The system does but the county receives about allow for addresses to be Imme­ the same number of calls - diately transferred from opera- _ about 2,000 a day - expected when Cincinnati's 911 system tors to dispatchers. Procedures goes on line. do not require operators to transfer immediately the ad­ Vegamast said as a rule of dress of a fire or medical emer ... thumb 90 percent of all calls gency to a dispatcher although should be answered In less than operators do expedite emergen­ 10 seconds during peak times. cies on a case-by-case basis. Ctnclnnatl dlspatchers are able to answer only 83.9 percent of ''That ls not a good way to the calls within 20 seconds. In run a dispatching center,'' said Baltimore County, 98 percent of Vegamast. ''It takes an average the calls are answered within 3 of a minute and 15 seconds to seconds. obtain information from a cal­ ler, providing they aren't hys­ The Baltimore County center terical. Why waste all that time has a minimum of eight com­ before you send something and plaint operators and seven fire get things rolling?'' dispatchers on duty at all times. Cincinnati's minimums are four The Hamilton County Com­ operators, two dispatchers munications Center, which had When the 911 system ls In place, problems slmllar to the city's the mlnJmum number of opera­ when It went to computers 15 tors will be six and the number years ago, has successfully lm­ of dispatchers will remain the plemen ted Vegamast's three same. suggestions. © This entire service and/or content portions thereof are copyrig hted by NewsBank and/or its content providers..