The St. Clair County Dispatch Center has modified three questions that were found in the original dispatcher guidelines from the start of the pandemic in mid-March to address the more rapid spread of COVID-19 today. Dispatchers ask callers about their symptoms, such as shortness of breath, cough or a fever that exceeds 100.4 degrees.
Dispatchers answer all 911 emergency calls throughout the county and serve as the patient's link to first responders. According to the Times Herald, if the patient is presenting with symptoms of the coronavirus, dispatchers are to notify the responding agencies.
"It's been a challenge lately, for sure," communications officer Dave Ponke said. "Certainly in my 25 years of being a 911 dispatcher, I have never heard of such a heightened level of anxiety from so many citizens on a daily basis."
"My dispatchers are hearing them having a hard time breathing and trying to talk to just get an address out of them," said St. Clair County Central Dispatch Director Tina Bricker. "That causes them a lot more stress because they hear the difficulty in the people that are really sick and can't even get out of bed."
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