NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week starts Monday, and Hutchinson/Reno County 911 is proud to have a new Director of Emergency Communications, Kevin Irwin.
"I'm actually a transplant out of Michigan," Irwin said. "I worked for a private service up there overseeing a PSAP center for many years and it was time for a move. The opportunity came down here to Hutch, connections were made. It's a great opportunity. I've been in public service now for the better part of 38 years. I'm a licensed paramedic and got to see over the communication centers for the last 12."
Dispatch Supervisor Sabrina Henry explained that where you are is the first thing 911 wants to know when you call.
"We're just going to ask you, what's the location of your emergency?" Henry said. "We're going to get that information and we're going to ask you to repeat that to verify where you are at so that we make sure that we have it correct. We're going to ask your phone number, just in case we get disconnected from you so we can call you back and then we're going to find out what your emergency is. Based on your emergency, we're either going to send law enforcement or fire or EMS. It could be a combination of both, depending on what it is. From there, we're going to ask a series of questions to get all that information, so we can give that out to first responders that are coming to your scene."
Dispatchers are trained to help you keep the person you are helping alive long enough for help to get there. As soon as you give them the address, help is on its way.
"All of our dispatchers are trained in a program, it's emergency medical dispatching," Henry said. "We give instructions, anything from giving CPR, airway management, bleeding control, even how to deliver a baby. It runs the gamut of the medical information that we get and then the instructions that we give. Every dispatcher is trained in that in our department."
If you have a concern that involves public safety, call 911 and let them help you sort out what to do next.
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