By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – A donation from Franklin Memorial Hospital means that Franklin County residents calling 911 will have certified emergency medical dispatchers on the line as early as July 1.

Over the next three months, nine full-time county dispatchers will receive training to become certified, giving them skills to guide callers though emergency situations and walk callers though maintaining the victim until ambulance personnel arrive.

For months, Sheriff Dennis Pike has been working with county commissioners trying to get dispatchers certified for emergency medical service, however, the commissioners decided earlier this year to put the plan off until next year’s budgetary process.

Although commissioners agreed that dispatchers needed to be certified sooner than later, by the time the proposal was brought up in late 2002, the budget for 2003 was already completed and ready to be voted on.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, FMH President Richard Batt put the wheels back in motion, presenting a check for $4,500 to pay for training emergency dispatch personnel.

“We are committed to care in the hospital, but out in the community as well,” Batt said. “We saw a need for this kind of training, and it made sense for us to help make it happen.”

Pike said the total cost for training the nine current dispatchers and purchasing the manuals they will use through PowerPhone, which give step-by-step procedures to walk callers through different scenarios from something as severe as cardiac arrest to a simple sprained ankle, will run just over $5,180.

He said he is more than able to fund the $680 extra balance, after the hospital’s donation, to bring the service to county residents. “It was a very benevolent offer from the hospital,” he said. “We definitely could accommodate that small balance.”

Pike said the push to get the program online by this summer gained momentum in March, when many local towns fiercely rejected ambulance service contracts. Now, he said, it could take longer for an ambulance to arrive, time that could mean the difference between life and death, and to have an emergency dispatcher on the line could be a lifesaver.

Current dispatcher Melinda Caton of Strong was recently promoted by commissioners to dispatch supervisor and training officer. She will be responsible for training new hires to the call center, and making sure the current dispatchers are recertified each year. Pike said four dispatchers will be trained in April at the Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro, and the remaining five will train in May. He expects the service to be up and running by July 1.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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