MIDLAND, Texas — Midland Dispatch is getting quite the upgrade, the city’s implementing a Medical Priority Dispatch System.
The system has been in the works since 2017 and was purchased for $147,000.
The system will allow dispatchers to gather crucial information needed to help first responders during emergencies.
Before dispatchers were only asking a few questions. Now they are going to ask even more:
- What’s the address of the emergency?
- Where are you calling from?
- Name?
- What happened?”
That last question is important, while first responders are on the way to a scene dispatch will do what they call a rapid interrogation.
“We're going to provide patient evaluation and provide the field responders more accurate information so they know what to do when they get to the scene," Lydia Marquez, Midland Communications Technical Director, said.
This is all in hopes of better preparing first responders for when they arrive on the scene, so they can save a life faster and easier.
“We can relay that information to the paramedics instead of them going in blind," Angela Wolff, Midland Communications Manager, said.
While paramedics are on the way, dispatchers are trained on how to walk through certain emergencies with callers over the phone.
“If somebody is choking, drowning, it’ll prompt them on how to save that person’s life," Wolff said. "Even childbirth.”
The life-saving system has already kicked off.
While dispatchers now have more questions to ask, it will not affect emergency response times.
Midland is looking to hire around 10 more dispatchers. The starting salary is $40,000.
For details on how to apply click here.
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