By Gary Massaro
MetCom Supervisor Neal Hoppe is one of the employees in the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority, West Douglas dispatch center to help the organization receive international accreditation. Photo by Andy Lyon, South Metro.
MetCom dispatchers can talk people through life-saving procedures for some emergency calls by following a script.
They have been so diligent on working on the technique that they have earned a selected accreditation for life-saving medical priority dispatch standards.
“With scripted telephone instructions for emergencies like heart attacks, choking, bleeding and childbirth, the medical priority dispatch system has been credited with helping to save thousands of lives,” according to Andy Lyon, South Metro Fire Rescue Authority spokesman.
MetCom’s use of the system helped two recent choking victims, as well as many other patients in recent years, Lyon said.
Going for the accreditation was voluntary, and included a review of 20 “points of excellence.”
MetCom, short for Metropolitan Area Communication Center, dispatches for South Metro and West Douglas Fire Protection District. MetCom said it’s the first in metropolitan Denver and 141st in the world to be recognized for excellence as a Public Safety Answering Point by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.
“This accomplishment helps to define MetCom as one the leaders in our industry,” said Paul Smith, the center’s director. “It’s a huge accomplishment for the center. It goes a long way in showing the public that we’re committed to providing the best care and service.”
Dispatchers are trained to keep people on the line. MetCom dispatchers are also trained to talk people through procedures in a script, which was developed by National Academy of Emergency Dispatch, a protocol established by doctors and dispatchers “who practice this stuff on a daily basis,” Smith said.
The script helps dispatchers deliver standard instructions, such a CPR or abdominal thrusts on choking victims, until paramedics arrive.
The protocol makes sure dispatchers are “following sound medical practice,” Smith said.
MetCom dispatchers go through continual training on how to deliver the message, Smith said, which is one reason the dispatch center received the accreditation.
“This accomplishment demonstrates not only to each individual within the communications center, but also to the administration, community, and the world that MetCom is compliant with all international standards for emergency medical dispatch,” according to International Academies.
MetCom opened in 2006.
“It was created by South Metro. The idea is to attract other agencies in our center over time,” Lyon said.
