MD Ally connects telehealth alternatives right into 911 calls
Every day in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people will dial 911 to seek help. Some of those calls are serious and require immediate emergency attention, but the reality is that most 911 calls are of a far simpler variety: concerns about a prescription, fear over a newly-developed symptom, or a general medical question.
When a 911 call taker receives that request for medical assistance, it sets into motion a series of responses. Ambulances and paramedics are sent, leading to skyrocketing costs for patients and insurers alike. What if instead of sending hyper-expensive emergency services to a non-emergency situation, call takers had an ally to guide patients to the resources they actually need?
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ARLINGTON, Texas, April 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ North Texas citizens dialing 9-1-1 may soon begin receiving text messages from the 9-1-1 telecommunicator with a link to pinpoint their location. This feature is one of the tools included with a new dispatch map that has been implemented throughout the North Central Texas Emergency Communications District s 13-county region.
The new map provides GIS-based data to 9-1-1 telecommunicators. The map features tools like enhanced location, which sends a link to mobile devices that callers can click to send their enhanced location to the telecommunicator. The map also includes a 9-1-1 chat feature that translates to over 70 languages, and is integrated with applications like What3Words, which pinpoints the location of a mobile device within three meters, and Waze to provide traffic data.
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911 professionals deliver services that place them at the forefront of many crises. Here are just three reasons I believe they should be reclassified as first responders, followed by what communications leaders can learn from them.
Ian Martens/The Globe and Mail
When a car rolls over or collides with something, sensors inside gather critical information such as the vehicle’s speed at impact, whether the airbags were deployed and how many people were inside.
Modern vehicles collect more than 120 pieces of data – information that could help an ambulance dispatcher determine whether to send advanced life support technicians and what kind of equipment the local hospital might need.
But Canada’s emergency communications system, which is based on 1970s technology, can’t access this data. Instead, workers at call centres staffed by the car manufacturers relay the information verbally to operators at Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), government-run centres that handle 9-1-1 calls. The system is not only time-consuming but also error-prone, says Holly Barkwell, the Canadian regional director for the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), an international organization focused on 9-1-1 policy and t