Regional Boston Area 911 Center Gains Momentum

When it comes to 911 contact centers especially, centralized coverage is better: in service quality and in cost effectiveness.

 

For those reasons four growing communities southeast of Boston, Mass.: Cohasset, Hingham, Hull and Norwell appear to be on their way to getting a regional 911 dispatch contact center in Hingham to replace separate centers covering each of the towns.

 

Wicked Local Norwell reports that Hingham officials signed an inter-municipal agreement to kick-start the process to make the regionalized center a reality. The Norwell Board of Selectmen will discuss the inter-municipal agreement sometime this week.

 

The drivers behind the regional center are faster 911 response times and 24/7 coverage. Emergency medical dispatch would be provided across all four towns with certified dispatchers who would provide pre-arrival care instructions in accordance with national standards.

 

The newspaper said the regional dispatch center will not require the same amount of manpower as the individual dispatch centers. That will lead to cost savings. 

 

Massachusetts’ emergency services funding formula favors a regional approach; it would provide increased annual allocations for the dispatch center. Currently, the state provides approximately $130,000 to support the dispatch centers across the four towns. With the regional center the state 911department would provide more than $400,000 in offsets to support its operation. 

 

Norwell Fire Chief Andy Reardon told the newspaper that added service is a major selling point for the regionalized contact center. He pointed out that there are limitations with current ECC in Norwell.

 

“We have two dispatchers on for 16 hours a day and one on after midnight,” he said. “There are instances now where our call-taker is trying to talk to the units and the caller at the same time.”

 

 “There are some cost savings and benefits for the town associated with this,” added Norwell Town Administrator Jim Boudreau. ”Call center workers will have enhanced training, which will allow them to deliver enhanced medical advice and stay on the line with callers who are having problems and talk them through the incident. It’s a higher level of service.”

 

There have been concerns raised with the regional centers chiefly revolving around closing the local police stations at night; 911dispatch has been handled from them. The paper said Cohasset’s police are also concerned that the proposed change in dispatch services will affect safe staffing levels.

 

Whether the proposed regional dispatch center could mean Norwell’s police station would at times be non-staffed, Boudreau informed the paper that could be a possibility.

 

“We’re bare bones right now, and at night in Norwell there are dispatchers there if someone was to come to the door,” Boudreau said. “If you take that out, there’s no one there. It doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be anyone at all around though.”