NickDG 23 #1 August 9, 2008 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26040857/ >>Pranksters, clueless callers block lines for legitimate crises<< (Wearing my EMS hat) . . . While the volume of "junk" 911 calls is certainly higher nowadays, it's always been an issue. I'm old enough to recall when you dialed the (0)perator to request either police, fire, or an ambulance. But in those days folks rarely called for an ambulance outright. In a medical emergency you called your doctor and he/she (mostly he) would rush right over. And yes, if you had a big test at school that day it was a lot harder to play sick-hooky. My Aunt Rose retired as a switchboard operator during the recreational drug haze of the early 1970s and she said a fairly common call was, "Hello Operator, where am I?" And, at least down to the neighborhood level, she could tell them. She'd also, if her supervisor wasn't directly plugged into her board, spend a moment or two with the lonely and the depressed. That kind of personal touch is gone now and we are the worse for it. The current three digit emergency system was first suggested by the fire department in the late 1950s. But it took almost thirty years before it was truly in place. And what finally pushed it into existence was the government forced break-up of AT&T in the early 1980s. In addition to forming separate and smaller Baby Bells it opened the door to independent phone companies. And I knew that was a big mistake when driving from an Arizona DZ I stopped at a phone booth to call California. When the call wouldn't go through I dialed the operator and was stunned to hear, "I'm sorry sir, we don't go there." Today when 911 calls make news they are sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny, and sometimes they make me angry. I realize dispatching on the 911 level must call for the patience of Jobe and surely they need tongue tied callers to get to the point, but there is often that condescending tone that comes through. One thing we overlook is many people simply can't operate on whatever the expected level happens to be. And we (society wide) too readily write those folks off. So in reality before the 911 system implodes any further it needs some kind of buffer system. And I think the answer is simple. Bring back Aunt Rose . . . NickD EMT-B Phlebotomist Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IanHarrop 43 #2 August 9, 2008 Listen to this... http://www.jibjab.com/view/154046 "Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LisaH 0 #3 August 9, 2008 Be yourself! MooOOooOoo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #4 August 9, 2008 Quote Listen to this... http://www.jibjab.com/view/154046 ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickDG 23 #5 August 9, 2008 "Got it from Blockbuster." ROFL NickD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #6 August 9, 2008 I want my dollar or my taco....bitch! Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
d_squared431 0 #7 August 9, 2008 TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1 I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
