Saving Lives, Money Will Be Benefit When County’s Central Dispatch Starts

CREST HAVEN – Central dispatch for emergency services will save lives as well as money according to Martin Pagliughi, Cape May County director of emergency management. He spoke at the Coalition of Civic Associations of Cape May County meeting Nov. 5.
Pagliughi updated members on the status of centralized dispatch system that will take place at the Cape May County Airport in Erma at the Lower Township Public Safety Building. In October the county approved a 50-year agreement with the municipality to undertake renovations that will configure the dispatch center that will serve county and municipal emergency calls, as partners consent to join.
911 Expectations
At present there are 12 Public Service Answering Points (PSAP) in the county, he said.
Pagliughi said many view 911 emergency services as they do the MUA and flushing a toilet. “They dial 911 and they want someone to answer the phone,” he said.
Central dispatch will offer “big savings for the communities in the county” as well as upgrading services that can save lives by trimming minutes from emergency response times.
Pagliughi estimated Lower Township’s initial savings in dispatch cost to be $115,000 “and with soft costs another $30,000 in maintenance on the 911 system. “That’s not counting the upgrade because their stuff is old now,” he said.
Another example of saving he cited was with Avalon assuming Stone Harbor’s police dispatching, Stone Harbor realized $187,000 in savings while Avalon saved $181,000. In the future, he estimated Lower Township would save $140,000 a year.
Should all the county’s municipalities with PSAPs join central dispatch, he estimated a saving of one cent to a cent and a half on tax rate.
More Dispatchers Mandated
Gone are days of a lone police dispatcher in a dispatch center, he said. The state changed regulations mandating more than one dispatcher on duty at a time. All dispatchers must take a course that lasts a week and a half to acquire a certificate, he noted.
Additionally, each dispatcher must be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid so they can give callers medical advice via the phone.
The need for multiple dispatchers becomes apparent, Pagliughi said, when one call may be for a cardiac arrest, which another is fielding a police-related question.
Most dispatch centers are located in police facilities, and primarily handle police calls.
“Fire company people talk a different language,” said Pagliughi. “Every PSAP is controlled by police.” That can get hectic as fire calls and dispatching is done when multiple units are involved, he said.
Need for Multiple Dispatchers
Pagliughi cited a situation in Avalon five years ago in July when a severe lightning storm hit eight or nine buildings. “There were fire units all over town.” Pagliughi radioed in for an address confirmation, and got no answer. A police lieutenant, monitoring the situation went to the dispatch center and quickly got a response to the mayor’s question.
Cell Phones, Blessing and Bane
Cell phones are a blessing and curse. “Today, when there is an accident, we will get 25 911 calls. Before all we had were land lines. The big problem is cell calls go from cell tower to cell tower.”
Because of those relays, it’s possible a Lower Township cell phone may “find” the nearest tower in Delaware, which must then be relayed through State Police to the local agency.
He said the next generation of 911 equipment will be able to pinpoint a cell phone’s location, thus eliminating wasted time relaying calls.
Since the Avalon-Stone Harbor dispatching alliance with the county, a 911 call reported an 18-month-old child fell from a second story window. Protocol mandates such injuries be flown to a trauma center, thus necessitating fire engines to standby at a helicopter landing zone.
In two minutes, that zone was finalized, rescue was dispatched and the child was loaded into the helicopter on the way to the hospital in nine minutes, Pagliughi said.
He said the child’s grandfather was so grateful; he expressed his thoughts that, in 42 years, he had never seen a coordinated effort that worked as did that one. He also donated $1,000 to Avalon Fire Department.
Need for More Dispatchers
Pagliughi estimated 36 full-time dispatchers would be employed full-time with eight relief dispatchers to cover sick time, vacations, etc. Part-time, seasonal dispatchers, to answer the increased summer calls, along with supervisors and radio communication officers would likely bring the total to about 100 individuals.
In 2013, there were 427,167 emergency calls handled throughout the county, he said.
“Broken down, there were ten times more police calls than first and EMS (emergency medical services), he said.
Project Timeline
Pagliughi said the first meeting on the renovation project took place Nov. 6 with architectural firm Buell Kratzer and Powell. In six months design work should be completed, approximately in May 2016.
The bid process would take two months, and nine months estimated for construction, meaning, if all went as expected, the central dispatch center should be operational by April 2017, the present goal.
The county is the last in the state to have a central dispatch center, he noted.
911 Funds Diverted
Pagliughi also told the group that every landline and cell phone user pays a 911 surcharge. That is supposed to pay for upgrades, such as what the county seeks to do.
“In 2014, New Jersey took in $128 million, but since 2009 all that money goes into the general fund of the state,” said Pagliughi. Regardless of the fact that federal legislation is in place that mandated use of those funds strictly for 911 upgrades, Gov. Jon Corzine decided in 2009 to use it for general purposes, and Gov. Chris Christie has maintained that status quo.
The only way to get movement to free those funds, Pagliughi said, would have to come from a groundswell of public opinion demanding legislators divert the funds to their intended, taxed, purpose.