How to keep a dispatcher happy
911		  
9-1-1 IS A THREE DIGIT TELEPHONE NUMBER THAT YOU CAN CALL
24 HOURS A DAY - 7 DAYS A WEEK
WHEN YOU HAVE A FIRE, POLICE OR MEDICAL EMERGENCY.

The Columbia County 911 System is considered "Enhanced 911". The "basic 911 system" is a 3-digit number that dials into the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point, i.e. the 911 Center). When the system is "enhanced", this means that the address and phone number of the caller are displayed on a screen. This information is then verified by the 9-1-1 "call taker"/"dispatcher". This must be done with each call as there are a small percentage of addresses that may be incorrect. It is very important that you make sure your address is correct in case you ever have an emergency where you may be unable to speak to verify your address. Another situation might be when a young child needs to dial 9-1-1 for an emergency; he/she may not know the address they are calling from. If the information on the screen is correct, it makes the task of choosing the appropriate response for that particular incident much, much easier.

If you do not know your 911 address contact us at (518) 828-1263. Be aware that this number rings into the 911 emergency center. If your call is not answered within 4 rings, it is because there is an ongoing emergency. If this happens, please hang up and call back a little later.

Write out your address on a small piece of paper and tack it on the wall above your phone, or tape it to the bottom of your phone. This will make it easier to give or verify your address if you or your child become too nervous or frightened to remember it.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT 9-1-1. MAKE SURE THEY LEARN THEIR PHONE NUMBER AND THEIR ADDRESS. You never know, your children may need to call 9-1-1 for YOU someday. And please DO NOT refer to it as 9-11 (nine eleven), that will only confuse them. It is just as important to teach your children NOT to play with the telephone. Dialing 9-1-1 when there is no emergency may take a "dispatcher" away from a REAL emergency.

We recommend that you do not program 9-1-1 into your telephone. The number is easy to remember. By programming the number you have more of a chance of accidentally dialing 9-1-1. If you feel you need to "test" your phone to see if 911 works, call our office first at (518) 828-1263. If we are not busy with an emergency, we would be happy to verify your address and then let you dial 9-1-1.

9-1-1 is a "free" call. This means that it does not cost anything to dial it from your home or any other location. If your phone service has been shut off, you will still be able to dial 9-1-1. You don't even have to insert money in a pay phone to dial 9-1-1.
If you normally dial "9" to get an outside line at work, remember to dial that "9" before you dial 9-1-1, if you have an emergency.

Dial 9-1-1 ONLY for emergencies. Emergencies might include but are not limited to: a serious medical problem such as chest pains, severe bleeding , seizures, difficulty breathing or cardiac arrest, any kind of fire whether it's a home, business, vacant building or vehicle, etc., or any emergency where life, body or personal property is in immediate danger, such as burglary in progress, destruction of someone's vehicle, fights in progress or anything involving weapons. If you are not sure whether something is an emergency or not, dial 9-1-1 and let us make that determination.

Please do NOT dial 9-1-1 for non-emergencies. Non-emergencies may be a property damage accident including a car striking a deer (provided no person is injured). Although we all love animals, this type of situation is not considered a 911 emergency. Other non-emergencies might include vandalism where the suspect is no longer at the location or disabled vehicles (provided they are not auto accidents with injuries). These calls can be handled by contacting a police agency directly. The Columbia County Sheriff's department (their number is 828-3344) dispatches the local police departments for: Germantown, Chatham, Stockport, Philmont and Copake. The New York State Police dispatches for the Town of Greenport Police. The number to dial to contact the New York State Police whether it's Claverack, Kinderhook or New Lebanon is 851-3111. ALL police emergencies in the City of Hudson are handled by the Hudson Police Department. Their number is 828-3388.

PLEASE do NOT dial 9-1-1 and ask us to transfer you to a police agency. If you have a real emergency we will dispatch the closest police unit. If it is not an emergency we will instruct you to dial a police agency directly (so as not to tie up a 9-1-1 line).

DO NOT dial 9-1-1 if there is a power outage in your area. Contact your local utility company to report or inquire about it. For appropriate numbers to call if you do have a power outage, check out our utilities page. If you or someone in your home relies on the power to run an oxygen tank or some other sort of life sustaining equipment then it is ok to dial 9-1-1.

If you dial 9-1-1 by mistake please do not hang up the phone. Stay on the line and let us know that you dialed 9-1-1 by accident. Even if you don't think you dialed 9-1-1 and it comes into our office, still, stay on the line and let us verify that you have no problem. There are occasions where the number you are dialing triggers 9-1-1 especially if you're trying to dial a 914 area code number from a 518 area code number. It is important to remain on the line and verify that there is no problem. If you don't stay on the line, we will have to call you back. If we cannot get someone on the other end of the phone, then we have to dispatch the nearest police officer who will most probably respond to your residence with their lights and sirens blaring assuming this may be a real emergency. Not only is that dangerous on the roadway, but it also takes a police officer away from the ability to respond to another call that is a real emergency.

Please be careful when cleaning or moving your phone. It is very easy to accidentally dial into the 9-1-1 center. Also, please make sure your battery is charged in your cordless phone, occasionally that will cause an accidental dial of 9-1-1.


Here are some tips to help make an emergency call
go smoothly and quickly:
When you dial 9-1-1 with an emergency, remain CALM, be PATIENT, SPEAK CLEARLY & be COURTEOUS. Sometimes it's important to take a deep breath before you pick up the phone.

KNOW the address of the emergency, directions to that emergency and the phone number you are calling from. Please understand that no matter how often the rescue squad, fire company or police have been to your residence or how well known you are in your community, there may be people on the crew that may not live in your area and will have no idea who you are. We typically have people call us and say "They know where we are". It is important that you always verify your address and have good directions for us to relay to the responding units.

Please do not insist that the "dispatcher" "hurry up" or demand that we get there "right now!" When you call the 911 center you are getting a 9-1-1 "call taker" and "dispatcher", you are not getting the fire company or police department or the rescue squad building. Once we have the proper information we immediately determine who is needed to respond to the call and dispatch appropriately.

Let the 9-1-1 "call taker" ask you the questions. We have a certain way of handling each call. Sometimes the questions may be asked more than once to clarify or re-verify the information. Each question has a reason for being asked. No one is deliberately stalling or delaying the emergency.

Each call is answered by 2 people. Although both people do the same job, one usually acts as the "call taker" and the other will act as the "dispatcher". As soon as the "dispatcher" gets enough information, he/she will dispatch the proper units for the incident. The "dispatcher" is responsible for dispatching and monitoring the response of the emergency providers. At times they may have several emergencies to monitor at one time. The 9-1-1 "call taker" will be asking additional questions of you and then will give you instructions to assist you in your particular emergency.

If it is a police call, the 9-1-1 "call taker" will need to know how many people are involved, if there are weapons, what the description is of the perpetrator or vehicle.

If it is a fire call, the 9-1-1 "call taker" will instruct you to get out of the residence. They will need to know if there is anyone in the building who cannot get out and why.

If it is a medical call, the 9-1-1 "call taker" will be able to give you instructions on what to do to help the patient until the EMS personnel get on the scene, such as how to control bleeding, how to do CPR or the Hemlich Maneuver, even how to deliver a baby!

Other instructions that we will give you is to get medication ready for the EMS personnel to see and to put any family pets in another closed room away from the patient. (Pets have a tendency to be protective of the patient and may even bite when they are not normally aggressive.) Everything you do can be a big help to the patient as long as you REMAIN CALM.

And last, but not least, DO NOT hang up the phone until you are instructed to do so by the 9-1-1 "call taker".



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