GILROY
– The County Board of Supervisors has OK’d a first-of-its-kind
contract between the county and Gilroy last week which starting
July 1 will ensure that Gilroyans who call 911 with a medical
emergency will have a chance to get life-saving instructions over
the phone.
GILROY – The County Board of Supervisors has OK’d a first-of-its-kind contract between the county and Gilroy last week which starting July 1 will ensure that Gilroyans who call 911 with a medical emergency will have a chance to get life-saving instructions over the phone.
Under the year-long contract, a fully-trained county Emergency Medical Technician/911 dispatcher, or emergency medical dispatcher, will be available 24 hours a day to provide emergency assistance and instructions to Gilroy callers.
Gilroy’s dispatchers are not currently trained to administer over-the-phone advice like the EMDs, who can walk a victim or an acquaintance through life-saving techniques such as mouth-to-mouth recitation and CPR.
Several other county cities already have EMDs in place, including Morgan Hill and San Jose, but this is the first time the county has contracted out an EMD to a city.
The price tag for the program is $25,000, which will come from the Gilroy Fire Department’s budget.
“This program is essential to save lives,” said Geoff Cady, the GFD’s fire-EMS analyst who plans to work with Gilroy dispatchers in the coming years so they can receive full EMD certification.
The contract will operate with Gilroy dispatchers headquartered in the basement of the Gilroy police station connecting calls appropriate for EMD to certified medical dispatchers at the county dispatch center in San Jose.
Paramedics will be routed to the address of the emergency as soon as the initial call goes to the Gilroy dispatchers, and the EMD in San Jose will continue to provide first-aid instructions to the caller until paramedics arrive on scene.
“Eventually we want to get our own dispatchers trained, because every time you do a call transfer there’s that chance someone can get disconnected,” Cady said. “But right now we see this as a good trial period to get people acquainted with the program. This is another one of those life-saving resources (the GFD) feels you can’t really put a price tag on.”
