Letter: Stamford Needs Emergency Dispatchers

STAMFORD, Conn. — The following is a letter from Gloria Kelley, president of Stamford United Auto Workers Local 2377, in response to reports on the Matrix Consulting Group study in defense of statements that fewer 9-1-1 dispatchers are needed in Stamford. The Daily Stamford accepts all letters to the editor, which can be submitted by emailing reporter Anthony Buzzeo at tbuzzeo@TheDailyStamford.com. 

A city funded study by Matrix Consulting Group that the media had access to but was not made available to city employees or Stamford taxpayers, appears to have reached a preordained conclusion to recommend staff cuts, no matter what the consequences or impact to public safety. 

Ironically, many of the criticisms reported in the media are the result of mismanagement by the Pavia administration. The very suggestion that the fifth largest city in New England’s 911 call center could get by with only nine full-time emergency call takers handling the city’s 24/7 emergency responsiveness is ridiculous. 

Most calls to 911 are emergencies. Stamford’s emergency call takers simultaneously are responsible for reassuring callers who may be significantly traumatized while conducting the necessary interrogation to obtain accurate emergency incident information and then dispatching a sufficient emergency response. 

A medical emergency call can easily tie up a dispatcher for three to five minutes.  For instance, recently one of our 911 dispatchers had to walk two teenage callers through the proper CPR procedures to administer to their father, who was suffering a heart attack. In this instance, the dispatcher stayed connected with these children until help arrived on the scene and thankfully they were successful and the victim survived.

In the first 4 ½ months of 2012 (Jan. 1 to  May 14), Stamford’s 911 dispatchers have already handled 51,211 emergency calls for service that required dispatching a police officer, firefighters or EMS personnel on top of tens of thousands of additional nonemergency calls.

Stamford is a city of more than 120,000, and according to the U.S. Census (2006 American Community Survey) 32 percent of the city’s population is foreign-born and 12 percent of the city’s households are classified as linguistically isolated. These are households where English is not the primary language and no person in that household 14 or older speaks English as a first language or speaks English well. This also presents a specialized need to service the city’s population that our members confront every day.

Prior to the Pavia administration, Stamford’s 911 call center was staffed with six on-duty emergency operators for all shifts. Determining that the city’s 911 response is a low priority, the current administration’s emergency call center staffing has already been cut by 33 percent, and to reduce that more as the consultant is advising would be draconian.

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