Q&A
EMS call taker questions for mental health emergencies
1:43:30
·
88 sec
Assistant Chief Cesar Escobar details the series of questions EMS call takers ask for mental health emergencies. The process starts with basic life-threatening questions and then moves to specific mental health-related inquiries to determine if a B-HEARD team response is appropriate.
- Initial questions focus on whether the patient is awake and breathing
- If life-threatening conditions are ruled out, mental health-specific questions follow
- Questions about immediate danger, violence, and weapons are asked to determine B-HEARD team appropriateness
Cesar Escobar
1:43:30
Once the call is connected to our emergency medical dispatch, call takers, they will go through a series of questions, and every call that comes into 911 that is transferred to our EMS call takers goes through the same process of questions.
1:43:49
So even if it gets categorized as a mental health emergency by NYPD.
1:43:55
Once it gets to our EMS call takers, they have to ask a series of questions, and I'm just gonna give you a couple of them.
1:44:04
And it starts off with is the patient awake, is the patient breathing.
1:44:08
So if the answer is no to any of those, it goes a different track and we dispatch an ambulance right away.
1:44:13
Obviously, that is a life threatening emergency.
1:44:16
You know, we try to get to those emergencies very quickly.
1:44:19
The our priority, 1, 2, and threes, which are things like cardiac arrest, unconscious choking, things that will kill you in a couple minutes.
1:44:27
So but once the answer is that they are awake, that they are breathing, then they go down the series of questions, asking the mental health emergency questions to make sure that this call is appropriate for the be her team.
1:44:43
So some of the questions are like, is there any immediate danger?
1:44:46
Is there any violence?
1:44:48
Is there any weapons?
1:44:49
So those are the type of questions.
1:44:51
So and if it any of those are yes, then the call will be classified as something differently, and a b hurt team will not respond.
