Just Call 911 – A Novel Idea
Now here’s a novel idea. I wish I was being sarcastic but I’m not. Personally I think someone should have tried this a long time ago. In Minnesota, the local dispatch center ha decided to tell people to just call 911 any time they think they need a police man, a fireman or an ambulance. They’ve dropped the whole idea of asking people to only call for emergencies and to find a non-emergent number somewhere if they have a non-emergent need.
Apparently they started routing all the calls into the same center some time ago and now they’ve just decided to screen the calls themselves. I suspect they were doing that already. If a caller called on the non-emergent line with chest pain I suspect they got routed over to the emergent side. If a called needed non-emergent service, I suspect they received them even if they called the emergency line.
So now, instead of investing countless dollars in ineffective public education programs and getting upset when people still call on the wrong line, this center is going to stop swimming upstream and just tell folks, “hey, call us and well figure it out.” You might even say they’re going to let the patient define the emergency. Revolutionary.
This runs counter to everything we’ve been trying to do with 911 dispatch for over 20 years and I commend Minnesota for being bold enough to try it. Way to think for yourselves guys.
Steve
Tags: 911, dispatch, emergency, minnesota, non-emergent
