THE PEOPLE OF SABATTUS WOKE UP!!!

Last week in the Sun Journal, there was an article letting us know that the town of Sabattus has decided to utilize Androscoggin County Dispatch for their public safety answering point and emergency dispatch? This eliminates the delay of emergency services going through Lisbon Communication Center.  It also enables the County to directly dispatch First Responders thus saving time in emergencies.

 Androscoggin County Dispatch has experienced 911 operators whom are also qualified as Emergency Medial Dispatchers (EMD).  The EMDs gather critical medical information called Emergency Medical Code (EMC) for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) that allows EMTs to provide better service faster.  This provides patients with a much higher chance of survival.

 The towns of Lisbon and Durham still utilize the Lisbon Communication Center to dispatch first responder after they receive notification from Androscoggin County Dispatch receiving a 911 call.  This is cumbersome and causes delays at time especially when 353-2500 (Lisbon Communication Center phone number) is busy.  Any delay puts people at risk and is totally unnecessary.  By going with the Androscoggin County Dispatch ensures that qualified personnel are always on duty and that first responders are dispatched immediately upon receipt of the 911 call.  This eliminates all delays of any type.

 The Lisbon Communication Center has no one assigned to the communication center that is qualified as a 911 operator or an Emergency Medial Dispatcher.  This coupled with the fact the current system required the County to relay information to the Lisbon Communication Center causes a time delay.  Towns need to provide their residents with the fastest and best service available.

 The towns of Lisbon and Durham need to move their emergency services and public safety answering point to the Androscoggin County Dispatcher enabling quicker and better service to its citizens.

Larry Fillmore