Sussex County 911 center earns honors

Georgetown, Del., June 9, 2015: The quality of service Sussex County’s 911 dispatchers provide callers each and every day is world-class, according to an international organization that evaluates and ranks emergency centers around the globe.

The non-profit International Academies of Emergency Dispatch in May awarded the Sussex County 911 center re-accreditation as an emergency medical dispatch “center of excellence”. The award, as the 65th Emergency Medical Dispatch Accredited Center in the world, is the fifth such award for the County since its initial accreditation in 2001.

Winning the award requires voluntary self-analysis and compliance with industry standards, including the Medical Priority Dispatch System, a protocol for assessing medical emergencies and dispatching the appropriate response. As part of the re-accreditation process, the center had to meet the IAED’s “20 Points of Excellence”, which examines everything from questions dispatchers ask, and in what order, to continuing training and the center’s design.

“Our dispatchers take very seriously their role in the delivery of care to the people of this county,” said Joseph L. Thomas, director of the County 911 center. “It’s very humbling to know these are some of the best public safety professionals you’ll find anywhere in the world.”

In 2014, the Sussex 911 center handled a total of 114,208 emergency calls, a nearly 8.5 percent increase from 2011. More than 26,000 of those calls involved medical dispatches. The center will be formally recognized for its accomplishments at the Navigator 2016 conference in Washington, D.C., and on the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch’s website.

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