Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 5 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
To the editor
As a volunteer firefighter and one of a handful of cardiac technicians in the county, I would like to respond to Nelson Lane’s ignorant comment regarding the women who dispatch the fire and rescue calls.
These ladies need to be far more qualified than simply having a familiarity with CB radios and a good education.
They need first an extensive knowledge of the geography of the county in order to know not only which companies to dispatch, but also to be able to decipher the caller’s directions. It’s not unusual for callers not to be able to precisely describe where they live and to give directions such as "the Smith place - they’ll know, they picked my father up last year,” or “turn off the Front Royal road by the brick barn and come back about two or three miles.” By having a knowledge of the county, the dispatcher can often translate these directions into more workable ones for the responding units, enabling precious minutes to be saved.
The dispatcher must also have a working knowledge of the specialized equipment available at the various departments: If there is an automobile wreck in the Castleton area with several injuries and a person trapped - how many units are needed to respond? Which is the nearest medic unit? Who carries the extrication equipment? Is it in working order? And while the dispatcher is seeking to answer these questions, someone’s life could be hanging in the balance - as dependent on her correct judgement as upon that of the fire and medical personnel when they arrive on the scene.
Whoever takes the emergency call has to be part psychologist and part linguist in order to handle callers who are hysterical or intoxicated, and glean the relevant information from them in a coherent fashion. The dispatcher should be able to help the caller deal with the emergency until help arrives.
Mr. Lane, would you know the correct information to give the mother of a choking youngster; a child whose babysitter is unconscious; a handicapped elderly person whose house is on fire? Would you want that responsibility?
Dispatchers need to be able to coordinate information between ambulances and hospitals when radios
82.2%