In House Dispatching

[ailc307 1]

Looking for any suggestions on starting an in house dispatch. We are looking at the possibility of moving from 911 to having our own dispatch. We are the only EMS service in the county and answer about 10,000 calls yearly.

Thanks In Advance

Jamey

[nycemt728 49]

Wow, in-house dispatching for 10,000 calls a year is no small task. Some things I can think of right off the bat would be suffiicient space to hold the necessary equipment and personel;, base station radio(s) (if nextels are not used) and other M/A radios, an appropriate number of phone lines with the features set up such as call waiting, forwarding etc..., backup plans and equipment, a written communication plan and manual for those working dispatch, a recording device if you wish to record your calls and transmissions for legal and or training reasons, and finally some sort of log or record keeping system. My squad (which has a signifigantly smaller call volume I might add) utilizes Emfotec Information systems. This program is very user friendly (compared to some other programs on the market) and can be tailored to the organization. Its only downfall is it might not be as good for realtime tracking of mutiple units, but it is still a handy tool. Heres a link to their site. Emfotec Information Systems I know this is kind of broad, perhaps if you posed some specific questions, I and the other members on the forum could help further. Good Luck!