HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Next Generation 911 system was officially unveiled to local officials, with the new addition hoping to create more “seamless communications” between dispatchers and island residents in need.
On Monday, the Guam Fire Department, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and dignitaries gathered to cut the ribbon on the system, which was part of a decadelong process to improve the response of emergency services.
The system, according to acting Fire Chief Joey San Nicolas, has the “greatest and latest in technology and equipment with capabilities and potential.”
“From automatic caller identification, location, address recall, call history, to real-time tracking of cellphone callers and response units on a digital map, to transference of important case information through a computer-aided dispatch platform that shoots directly from the dispatch workstation to the responding units in the field,” he said.
According to GFD’s chief, the Next Generation 911 system officially being put to use was emotional for him, considering it was first proposed in the department’s strategic plan in 2012.
“Now, 11 years later and after three iterations of trying to get this right, and of course with Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio’s commitment to our island and (our) people, we are about to cut the ribbon of our long-awaited Next Generation 911 Call and Emergency Dispatch Center,” San Nicolas added.
Leon Guerrero said the modern system is the result of persistent and aggressive action to improve public safety on the island and that it’s just the beginning.
“I am just excited for the people of Guam. I am excited for you. And, of course, looking ahead this is what I want done: that when a call comes in, that that call doesn’t get referred to another person, and that call doesn’t go down two or three levels until the help comes,” Leon Guerrero said. “I understand that’s what we’re working towards, to have one medical dispatcher that can address the needs of that person and doesn’t have to be repeated to another person, … and that’s what we’re working towards.”
The governor was given the opportunity to be part of a demonstration where she sat at the workstation of a 911 dispatcher. Features of the actual station included five screens that display information including a map with the precise location of the call, the types of responding vehicles and the length of time it will take for their arrival.
As part of the demonstration, Leon Guerrero, a trained nurse, answered a mock call from a pregnant woman who was in labor.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, right, sits as officials help her run a mock emergency phone call to show how dispatchers operate a new 911 system, Monday, May 8, 2023, at the Guam Fire Department offices in Hagåtña.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for a brand-new 911 center Monday, May 8, 2023, at the Guam Fire Department offices in Hagåtña.
