Mohave Today

The Kingman 911 Communications Center is excited to announce the addition of the Fire Priority Dispatch System™ (FPDS®) to their existing use of the Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®). Together, these important protocols enable public safety telecommunicators to provide essential safety instructions to callers and bystanders and relay vital on scene information to responders within the City of Kingman and surrounding Mohave County communities.

With these systems, Kingman 911 staff follow nationally recognized standards and research-based protocols to identify life-threatening situations and to safely prioritize calls for response. The protocols guide call takers through a series of questions they ask callers to identify the problems so they can send the correct help.

Public safety telecommunicators will also use the questions to provide responders with accurate information so they can more effectively give care once they are on the scene. Additionally, with the MPDS® and FPDS®, staff can provide lifesaving and safety instructions to callers, patients, and bystanders before responders arrive.

The Priority Dispatch System™ (PDS™) includes ProQA® software a three-day certification training course for emergency dispatchers, and continual quality improvement (QI) benchmarks and training. All Kingman 911 Communications Center staff who work on the MPDS® and FPDS® are certified by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™) and must recertify every two years, complete 24 hours of continuing dispatch education (CDE) and pass all requirements for IAED recertification.

“At the IAED, our goal is to help the emergency dispatcher do his or her job better,” said Dr. Jeff Clawson, Chair, Rules Committee for the IAED Medical Council of Standards. “This system increases safety and effectiveness for the first responders and creates better outcomes for callers.”

The constantly evolving PDS will help provide the highest standard of care to the community, allowing the Kingman 911 Communications Center to better manage limited resources and increase the accuracy and efficiency of the dispatching process.

“In 2016, the Kingman 911 Communications Center implemented MPDS®. Since that time, we have seen our staff become the first, first responders by quickly assessing emergency medical situations and providing lifesaving pre-arrival instructions over the phone until medical help arrives,” said Kingman 911 Communications Center Manager Deann MacLeod. “With the addition of FPDS®, we can provide a consistent, efficient, and effective customer experience across both fire and medical emergency responses,” MacLeod added.

With the Kingman 911 Communications Center’s use of the MPDS® and FPDS®, the community can have peace of mind that when they call their local emergency number for assistance, highly trained emergency dispatchers will properly handle their needs with timeliness and expert care.

The Kingman 911 Communications Center, a Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA®) accredited communication center, operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. A staff of 17 provide the City of Kingman and surrounding Mohave County communities with access to police, fire, and emergency medical services. The center takes approximately 150,000 emergency and non-emergency phone calls resulting in nearly 60,000 calls for service for Kingman Police Department, Kingman Fire Department, Northern Arizona Fire District, Golden Valley Fire District, Lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District, Pinion Pine Fire District, and Pine Lake Fire District each year.

Original source can be found here.