What to Tell a 911 Operator

Series Summary

You may already know that in America, in case of an emergency—like a car accident, burglary, shooting, or heart attack—that you should dial 911. What you may not know is how to properly communicate with a 911 operator, so that you can be sure to get the kind of help that you or someone else may need in a hurry. 911 dispatch operators are there to direct your call and send the right people to the right place. When every second counts, you want to make sure you know what to expect should you ever have to make an emergency call in the middle of the night.

In this free emergency preparedness video series, learn what to do when you need to call 911, or even if you call by accident. Our expert, an experienced 911 dispatch operator, will tell you what the most important information you need to give is, why you need to give your address, why you may be asked to stay on the line, how to get to the point about what type of emergency you have, how to teach kids to use 911, how to report a car accident, and more tips you need for emergency preparedness. Stay vigilant!

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Jill I am a 911 operator and dispatcher and I'm here today on behalf of Expert Village to help you with some tips for 911. So you can better use it to get the help you or someone you care about needs an emergency. Today's series we're going to cover some misconceptions you might have about 911 also the important things to remember when your talking on the phone to an emergency dispatcher. And also maybe some real life scenarios about common problems or reasons people call 911 and how to best handle them. Now I'm going to give you some tips and advise on what do to when your in an emergency and you need to dial 911. The first thing that happens when you dial 911 is that your going to be connected to some kind of dispatcher or call center it could be your local police, sheriffs department, fire department, depending on where you live it could be different. But regardless of where your getting you always want to remember that you need to state your emergency that's the most important thing they need to know what is happening. The second most important thing is where is this happening exact addresses are always preferred say it's a car accident and your at a intersection give them the cross streets, be specific as possible because we want to send help to you as quickly as possible. And we don't know where you are once you tell us so those are the 2 things to remember what the emergency is and where it is. If it happens to be a medical emergency and your calling for paramedics the other thing you want to remember is current condition of the patient. So for an example if your calling and say someone next to you might be having a heart attack or some kind of seizure you want to stay on the phone and continue to tell the person your speaking to how that person is doing until help arrives. Because you may even be able to help them a little bit until help arrives."