Improving EMS

To the Editor:

As a former city paramedic, I've been closely following the steady, incremental improvements in the 911 dispatch system.

As such, while I believe a more decentralized and redundant set of centers would be better, I'm happy to see that the city is at least establishing one backup/duplicate.

However, the writeups and specifications I've been reviewing still miss what may be the most important needed change.

As currently configured, and even with the new proposals, the 911 calls needing the most intense and urgent telephone assistance have to wait the longest.

Out of the 3,500 EMS calls per day, about a thousand are considered critical, with many needing immediate telephone instruction. There's a similar, if smaller, group of fire-related calls also requiring such help.

As things now stand, that caller needing CPR instructions has to first talk to the initial 911 call-receiver and explain the situation. It's only then that the call is three-wayed to an EMS member, who then provides the life-saving instructions.

While this system may have been needed when the systems were first designed decades ago, nowadays it only serves to add critical delays before help is provided.

It's time to acknowledge that the initial 911 call-receiver should handle all aspects of the emergency phone call, and that person should have all the training (and salary) such a position entails.

DANNY BURSTEIN