Things To Keep In Mind When You Dial 911 In Maine

This week is National Public Safety Telecommunications Appreciation Week. In layman's terms, this week is all about our Public Safety Dispatchers.

My 10-year-old daughter recently asked me what a dispatcher does, and the best way I could explain it is 'they provide a calm voice at the other end of the phone when someone calls 911, and they send help out to those who need it."

Read More: Inside The Life-Saving Role Of A 911 Dispatcher During Birth

But in reality, there's so much more to that job that warrants eternal thanks to those who do it, in my humble opinion. It's not easy to keep your cool in an emergency, especially when you can't see what's going on or physically aid the situation, yet these folks manage to do that, and then some, day in and day out.

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Many things take place after someone places a call to 911. And most folks don't have a clue, or they take for granted what has to happen in the moments before help arrives.

To showcase just how important dispatchers are as the first point of contact in the world of First Responders, in 2008, Congress declared the month of April "9-1-1 Education Month."

In 2022, the Penobscot Regional Communications Center put out this infographic that explains a little about the process that happens.

But we wanted to dive a little deeper to find out what happens locally, here in Maine, when 911 is dialed. So we went straight to the source.

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Rolly Means has worked as an Emergency Dispatcher for the Hancock County Regional Communications Center for over 2 decades.

He says there are several things that folks can do to make a call to 9-1-1 go as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

1.) Dispatchers Need Information, So Be Ready To Answer Some Questions.

Dispatcher Means says Emergency Dispatchers are trained and required to ask a lot of questions. And those questions have a purpose! Contrary to how irritating you might think the Q & A session is in the heat of the moment, the information you share with dispatchers is meant to help and protect you and those responding to the emergency.

Impatiently yelling at the voice on the other end of the phone will not speed things along. So try to stay calm and be as honest and observant as you can.

"We get yelled at... a lot!"

Dispatcher Means says folks mistakenly think all the questions that get asked will somehow delay an emergency response. But that's not the case. He says typically calls are answered by more than one dispatcher: one who is asking the questions, while another coordinates the correct response of who to send where.

2.) Start by stating what kind of emergency is occurring, and where you are. 

One of the most important pieces of information you can pass along to a dispatcher is your location. If you don't know the address of where you are, look around for clues. Are there street signs or landmarks you can give them?

Dispatcher Means says that while the technology has come a long way since the days of wired house phones, it can still take a little bit for 9-1-1 dispatchers to determine your location, and they're often at the mercy, as far as cell phone location apps go, of your carrier.

Some are more accurate and quicker to pin down a location than others.

3.) Keeping Cool Helps You And Those Around You As Much As It Helps Dispatchers

Means says dispatchers are very aware that folks who call 9-1-1 are in an emergency, and at times in a state of fear or excitement. He points out that often, especially in the case where children are involved, the calmer and more collected you remain (and the dispatchers will help remind you of this), the better the overall outcome of the call can be. Children often respond to the energy around them.

If you are panicking, they will likely follow suit. If you can keep a level head, you will help them to remain level-headed, too.

4.) Patience and Perspective Are Key 

These days, with emergency resources as strained as they are, and the call volume at the highest level dispatchers have seen in years, Dispatcher Means says that there are instances where it can take a minute or two to track down responders and vehicles to send out to emergency scenes. Think of all those towns that have volunteer first responders who often have to leave what they're doing to head to a call.

Add to that the fact that sometimes folks call 9-1-1 with things that are not considered an emergency. Simple questions about property lines or where the parade route runs do not warrant a call to authorities, yet they often field calls like that.

With all the demands that come with the job, it's no surprise that recent data shows  "rising outage rates, increased openness to AI, and a shift from staffing shortages to burnout" as top concerns for those in 9-1-1 operations, technology, and education.

Dispatchers are highly skilled and trained in their field, but they're also human. From time to time, they can get weighed down by the gravity of their job. They deal with people who are experiencing the worst days of their lives, every single day.

That can get heavy. Keeping in mind that the voice on the other end of the line is a person, just like you, and is going to do their best to work with you to get you the help you need, is always appreciated, Means says.

Now you know. Let's hope you never need to call, but if you do, you'll be ready.

To all the Public Safety Telecommunications professionals out there, thank you for doing what you do!