In an effort to reduce response time and caller frustration, and in the process to take advantage of state subsidies, two area towns are looking into making changes to their 911 dispatch centers.

In Meriden and Southington, the dispatchers take fire and police calls but transfer medical calls to separate companies, Hunter's Ambulance and American Medical Response, respectively. The callers often have to repeat the details of their emergencies to a second dispatcher.

George Pohorilak, a former Office of Statewide Emergency Telecommunications director, visited the Southington Board of Police Commissioners as a private citizen during the board's last meeting.

"What happens now is you call and you have to transfer the person depending on what your emergency is. It takes some amount of time for the physical electrical transfer to occur, then the caller has to repeat what they just said when they called the Southington Police Department," Pohorilak said. "When you add it all up, it is typically around 35 to 45 seconds. In a medical emergency, those seconds can be critical."

Meriden is choosing between two emergency medical dispatch programs for its dispatchers. Director of Emergency Communications Frank Kiernan said the staff should be trained and ready to handle all 911 calls by early 2010.

"It is definitely a benefit to the citizens to deal with one person rather than deal with a transfer. It also can be frustrating making the call," Kiernan said. "Time is different for them. Thirty seconds doesn't seem like a long time, but with someone in an emergency situation, time seems to slow down. It can frustrate the caller."

The decision on whether to transfer a call is made at the local level, but the state offers incentives for municipalities that do not transfer calls. The incentive program started decades ago but was only available to cities and towns with populations greater than 60,000. In 2005, the program was opened to those with populations greater than 40,000.

Each year a town continues to transfer its 911 calls, the amount of the subsidy decreases. Kiernan said the full amount would be more than $100,000 for Meriden, but the city now receives only half that amount.

Southington's subsidy difference is even more dramatic. Now in its fourth year in the program, Southington was eligible for $89,000 through the incentive, but because of the AMR transfer, the town received only $8,150.

If the transfer is eliminated, Southington could recoup $95,000 in lost funding from the past few years. In addition to the $89,000, the town can apply for an additional 12.5 percent, or $11,206, for capital expenses as long as the town matches that amount.

Unlike other state funding that could be in jeopardy during the budget process, the money for the incentive comes from the 911 charge tacked on to telephone bills strictly for programs to better maintain the 911 system. The funding is divided up among the towns using a formula based largely on population, Pohorilak said.

Commissioner Elaine Bedard said the board was very receptive to making the change but will have to do some research before moving forward. She said there may be contracts with companies or technical issues to address before jumping into it, but she was glad Pohorilak shared the information with the board.

"It was incredible. I sat there listening to him and I was surprised that we didn't know about it," Bedard said. "We'll definitely look into this. That is a nice chunk of change. With the economy being what it is, every dollar counts."

Southington Police Department spokesman Sgt. Lowell DePalma said the department will be looking into the logistics of making the change, such as whether the current dispatch stations can handle it and whether there would be staffing concerns. He said the desire, however, is to increase public safety by reducing the response times.

Wallingford has had a centralized dispatch center handling all calls for nearly a decade. Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio said the department has been taking advantage of the nearly $80,000 it receives from the subsidy.

"We handle the calls here, and I think we were one of the first in the state to do pre-arrival medical instructions on the phone," Dortenzio said. "I think we're on top of our game in that regard. We've been doing it for a number of years and it has worked quite well."

With a population below 40,000, Cheshire does not qualify for the state subsidy. Police Lt. Jay Markella said that, like Meriden and Southington, it transfers medical calls to an ambulance company, in this case Campion Ambulance. He said there were no plans to make changes to the service.

rrathsack@record-journal.com

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