In June 2025, the York County 911 Center, York, PA, received a call from the wife of a 75-year-old male, described as not feeling well and having just fallen off the toilet. Upon initial Case Entry questioning by the Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD), the patient was described as “awake” and “breathing.” Within a few seconds of these responses, the caller rechecked the patient and changed her response to “He was a minute ago” (regarding consciousness), then, after a brief pause said, “He’s unconscious at the moment.”
A review of IAED™ Data Center analytics for versions 6.0 through 7.1 of the Police Priority Dispatch System™ (PPDS®) revealed an important shift in introducing “just occurred” events and PAST “suspect in area” events categorized as lower-level responses, allowing Emergency Police Dispatchers (EPDs) to allocate police resources with a delineated range and fewer high-priority events.
Language barriers during emergency calls can delay the delivery of care and jeopardize health outcomes for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). This study examines how Mandarin-speaking LEP callers and 911 Public Safety Telecommunicators (PSTs) navigate the critical task of address acquisition during medical emergencies. Using Conversation Analysis, we analyzed nine 911 calls in which callers were later connected to an interpreter only after providing their location.
911 callers with limited English proficiency (LEP) can make up a sizable portion of the overall 911 caller population, particularly in and around large cities where diverse ethnic and immigrant populations reside. 911 agencies have relied on both bilingual emergency dispatch staff as well as third-party translator services to assist with LEP callers.
