What You Should Know About Calling 911
9-1-1 lines are reserved for emergency calls to report a crime in progress, a fire, or to request an ambulance. Using 9-1-1 for non-emergency calls may delay the arrival of help for people caught in real emergencies.
When calling to request assistance, you will be asked to give the address of where the emergency is occurring, and the phone number you are calling from. Then you will be asked to repeat those for verification to ensure the correct location of the emergency. Your name will be asked along with “What’s the problem, tell me exactly what happened?” This question ensures that proper units (Police, Fire, EMS) are dispatched to your emergency.
Several more questions will follow those stated above. Gathering this information will not delay the dispatch of the responding agencies. It will help better inform them of the situation.
The telecommunicator will also use the information gathered during questioning to give the proper instructions to the caller. Some instructions include CPR, child birth, how to control bleeding, and how to clear an obstructed airway (choking). Don’t worry if you don’t know how, the telecommunicator will provide step by step instructions. The EMD program is designed to help callers provide care to the sick/injured until the responding agencies arrive on scene.
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