At its meeting on Sept. 22, the City of Maryville continued to support a program for emergency dispatchers. The region's public safety agencies are consolidated under one dispatch service, the Northwest Regional Communications Center (NRCC), which operates out of the Public Safety Building in Maryville.
The NRCC uses an outside group, Medical Priority Consultants, to provide training and software for its dispatchers, who answer all 911 calls in Nodaway and Worth counties. Dispatchers consult the software every time an ambulance goes out.
“They are the industry standard for providing call-taking protocols for emergency or non-emergency ambulance service. Basically, anything we send an ambulance to runs through that protocol," said NRCC Director Jessica Rickabaugh at the meeting.
The center dispatched over 3,000 ambulances over the last year. Rickabaugh said dispatchers stay on the line even when an ambulance is on the way, providing a critical part of the emergency response.
Anytime an ambulance is sent, dispatchers enter the call into one of 35 categories in the Priority Consultants platform. The platform then helps the dispatcher support the caller.
“The most important part is it allows us to give pre-arrival instructions before ambulances get on scene,” Rickabaugh said. “We can explain something as simple as bleeding control or something as complex as delivering a baby or CPR. Our dispatchers can do that from inside the call center."
NRCC staff have invested significant hours in training to use the platform correctly, Rickabaugh said.
At her recommendation, Council voted to extend the contract with Medical Priority Consultants for another 5 years, at a total cost of around $30,000, or $6,000 annually.
