ELLAVILLE — Why do those dispatchers ask all those questions when taking calls at the Middle Flint Regional E911 Center in Ellaville?

Executive Director Ellice Fancher gave answers to this question and elaborated on other issues in a recent interview with the Ellaville SUN. The Center celebrated its first year of operation on April 6, in collaboration with National 911 Week.

“We’re still having to teach the public about 911,” Fancher said. She said the constant complaint she gets from people who use the service is that dispatchers “ask too many questions.”

Fancher explained that one minute after the dispatcher takes the call, another dispatcher is putting the call through to units with the appropriate agency responding to the call.

“The reason we ask all those questions is that we are trying to help the responders,” Fancher said. “The more questions we ask the better.”

Fancher explained that asking the questions is a “safety issue,” and the responders get enough information to hopefully nab the suspect.

“We can tell these units what they are looking for, if we ask the questions,” she said.

Fancher said in emergency/medical situations where emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are responding to someone who has had a seizure or is unconscious for one reason or another, asking as many questions as possible gives the EMTs enough information to help them respond properly with the proper equipment.

“When they get there, they know what equipment they need, and they can take it with them when they get out of the ambulance,” she explained. In other words, they don’t have to spend time determining what equipment they will need because they use the information given by the dispatchers who are asking the questions.

“It helps the responders know what they are going into,” she said. “Nobody’s being held up.”

Fancher said she can not stress how good the communications officers are doing, “working so hard to help the citizens.”

She said people should thank them every day, but especially during National 911 Week. Fancher said she encourages the citizens to “pay attention and give information and be assured that help is on the way.”

The Middle Flint Regional E911 serves Sumter, Schley, Taylor, Dooly, Macon, Marion and Webster counties. Authority members are Chairman Bill Bowen, Sumter County; Vice Chairman Doug Redmond, Schley County; Treasurer Lenda Taunton, Taylor County; Jerry Battle, Sumter County; Kenny Calhoun, Dooly County; Scott Dougherty, Macon County; Ronnie Morgan, Marion County; and Robbie Wells, Webster County.

The Authority was formed because after studies, it was discovered that none of the counties could afford E911 services on their own, but they could as a whole, Fancher said.

Money for the center was made possible through the OneGeorgia Authority. This organization put out $700,000 to fund the Center, Fancher said.

The first two counties to go live were Sumter County and Webster County. The other counties followed, Fancher said. The last county went live in August 2005.

The Center is the first of its kind in Georgia, serving 70 agencies, Fancher said.

The next project of the Middle Flint Regional E911 Center is Phase 2 Wireless, where callers from a cell phone can have their location identified.

There are currently 31 employees at the Center, including three administrative staff, 24 communications officers, three part-time communications officers and one part-time testing and mapping employee.