County approves upgrade to 911 dispatch system

Troup County and the City of LaGrange will soon be switching to an upgraded Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.

Last year the City of LaGrange, in conjunction with Troup County applied for a grant from the governor’s office to upgrade the current CAD to a more robust system for a community of our size.

Both Troup and the city have been utilizing PTS Solutions for more than a decade but are hoping to move to a better system.

The $2 million grant from the state will allow for a complete overhaul of the current CAD system, which includes EMS, fire, police, the sheriff’s office and E-911.

Troup 911 Director Shannan McLaughlin said the new software will improve their Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) and speed up calls. Speed is important, she said, because they have 45 seconds to dispatch the call.

Currently, when dispatchers receive medical calls they use a flip chart to direct them how to go about dealing with the call. The new system will guide dispatchers through calls so that they don’t have to flip back and forth between cards when information is updated.

The software allows them to more quickly determine the level of help that is needed so that ambulances can be sent out faster.

A pain call might get sent a basic EMS truck while a potential stroke victim may need a more advanced truck, she said.

County Manager Eric Mosley said the move will allow them to prioritize calls and sometimes send Basic Life Support units instead of more Advanced Life Support (ALS) units.

AMR currently sends all ALS units, so allowing for more basic calls will hopefully lessen the costs for citizens in the long run, Mosley said.

The new system is also easier to learn, McLaughlin said, so training new dispatchers will be a shorter turnaround.

“It took us approximately a month and a half to two months just to train them with the current system,” said Melody Swanson, Deputy Director for Troup 911. “We can now get them trained in two to three weeks in a class and then put them on the floor within those three weeks. They’re now able to answer calls correctly and make sure that we’re able to dispatch them in a timely manner.”

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