so if you need urgent assistance, you need to call dispatch, wait for them to answer and hope you don't get your butt kicked while you are on hold? and if you need help, only that one dispatcher knows it, not any of the other ambulances in the area? and during a national event, when all cell phone lines are busy (think new years eve or a terrorist attack), then what? or if your cell phone battery dies because you spent all morning watching youtube videos?
I understand what works in one place might not work in others... but if i was first arriving to an explosion, and I needed to relay information to other units, I wouldn't want to have to go through dispatch via a cell phone. Different strokes for different folks I guess
So to start with we have a totally different emergency system. There is not 1 number that you call for any emergency like 911. You call 100 for police, 101 for ambulance, 102 or fire and 103 for electrical (like downed wires and such). All the dispatchers can transfer you to each other if you call the wrong one by mistake and they all communicate as well (in fact every shift each dispatch has a person who's sole job is to coordinate with other services in the event that multiple services are needed, for example a fire with injuries or an assult that needs police and ambulance, etc.). Additionally each service has a non-emergency number and a whatsapp number for people with general inquiries. Culturally people here are pretty good about not calling emergency numbers for non-emergency issues.
This means that a) each dispatch is only dealing with their own service and b) each dispatch is staffed by field professionals from that service. Ambulance calls are answered by paramedics and ambulances are dispatched by people who also work in the field. It makes getting info from the callers and helping them much easier and it means we all "speak the same language". It also means that you almost never get put on hold when calling for an emergency. Additionally, we have direct numbers we (staff) can call to reach our dispatch if we can't go through the regular system for any reason.
Each region has their own dispatch and then there is a national dispatch. So if you are located in Jerusalem your call is sent the the Jerusalem dispatch center, Tel Aviva goes to Tel Aviv, etc. If for some reason all lines are busy there the call is automatically routed to the national center. In the extremely unlikely event that both are busy any region with an open line will get the call. All regions are in constant communication and can break through to the others as well. I have never heard of anyone waiting more than a minute to have a call answered even in a crisis or war.
Remember, our entire country is only slightly larger than the state of New Jersey (although we have a bigger population).
Since phones are used as a major form of communication most people are very good about being sure to keep the phone charged while on shift. We also have chargers in the ambulances that everyone uses. While in the ambulance most calls are on the radio but we do not use portable radios.
Other ambulances would not respond to a distress call since it is usually an issue of personal safety to the crew. Depending on where the situation is either the police or army respond. We have GPS in every ambulance and location ability on cell phones so the dispatch knows where we are.
In the event of a national emergency (terror attack) there is a clear protocol as to who is in charge and who is talking to the dispatch. The first emt on scene is in charge until he is relieved by the first paramedic on scene. He announces on the radio his name and that he is assuming command and then dispatch opens a cell call directly to him. There is then a strict use of radios for only very necessary radio traffic. That paramedic then "runs" the scene. He does NOT treat any pts but rather coordinates with dispatch (and through them the hospitals) and personnel on scene. As people show up to the scene they report to him and are given specific duties based on the event. This protocol is used for any multiple casualty event. So for example in an explosion the search area for pts needs to be bigger than say, a stabbing attack. In a MVC with several vehicles involved there is usually not such a big area that needs to be searched unless we suspect that someone was ejected.
We first perform a triage of every pt on scene and then start to treat and evacuate based on pt severity and need. The paramedic in charge is responsible for coordinating all this so the event is broken into sections. I would triage my section then tell him I have 2 critical, 2 severe and 3 mild injuries. He would then assign crews to me to start to treat and drivers to transport (telling each driver take a critical to x hospital or all 3 mild to y hospital). The drivers would then not need to communicate with dispatch. In order to avoid confusion other people do not speak to dispatch at this time unless absolutely necessary.
During such an event there is always at least one ambulance crew (usually designated before the shift) that does not go to the event so that they can be available for any other emergency call that comes in. They would communicate on the radio. Often general information will be relayed on the radio such as which routes the police have cordoned off for ambulances to have direct access to hospitals.
We also use our phones for things like giving....I can't remember the word in English...when you update the hospital about the status of a pt like in a heavy trauma or suspected CVA. Hospitals are not part of our radio system since we only communicate with them for this so either dispatch relays the call or we call the ER directly.
