McDonald County's 911 Dispatch Office handles all of the communications for six police departments, 10 fire departments, and one ambulance service.
In addition to connecting those in an emergency with the appropriate agency, dispatchers at the 911 office also:
• preserve call and dispatch records for the various departments;
• enter and archive warrants, orders or protection, and missing persons reports for the Highway Patrol database and the National Crime Information Center;
• stay up-to-date on the training related to these tasks.
They are also responsible for assigning address, maintaining the Emergency Notification Service for residents, and regularly testing storm sirens throughout the county.
Lisa McCool-Rataczak has been with the office since its formative stages in 2001. McCool-Rataczak oversees a staff of 17, including dispatchers, mapping personnel, administrative assistance, and one board secretary.
Final decisions on expenses, updates, and equipment must come before and be approved by the McDonald County 911 Board of Directors.
One thing that the board would like to see implemented this year is a text-to-911 feature. This would allow people who are hearing/speech impaired to receive emergency services with much more ease. It could also prove beneficial in a domestic violence situation where it may be hard to verbalize the situation.
This program is still in its pilot stages, indicating that the technology is on the forefront of the field.
"Our equipment is able to be the next generation so it's actually designed to do that," said McCool-Rataczak of the Text-to-911 feature's compatibility with their current system.
In the next year, the board also hopes to launch SafeTown's Household Profile. This allows families to login to www.SafeTown.org and create a medical profile of the people living in their home. Profiles can include a picture of the home as well each individual family member and any handicaps, allergies, or dependencies they may have.
Once complete, this data will be forwarded to the dispatch office when an emergency call is made from a phone number associated with the profile. The dispatcher will then provide any pertinent information to the responding agencies to help them more appropriately render aid.
When asked what residents can do to help emergency personnel complete their job, McCool-Rataczak quickly responded, "Learn CPR! When we have a citizen that's in trouble, it saves time if we know that they're getting good, effective CPR."
General News on 10/10/2015