Helping those who are here to help

With summer officially here, both locals and visitors will be heading into Gunnison’s backcountry in large numbers, and the Gunnison Regional Communications Center, also known as “dispatch", expects to see a corresponding uptick in emergency calls from remote areas.

An emergency situation which arises in the backcountry can present additional challenges — for the person making the 911 call, and for the emergency services personnel who respond to it.

The first consideration, according to dispatch supervisor Whitney Berman, is phone connectivity. Even though a cell phone may indicate no service, “Just try it” Bergman said. A call to 911 may go through, even if the phone shows no bars.

Newer iPhones, for example, come with a feature called Emergency SOS, which uses satellite technology to place a 911 call in areas where there is no cell service.

Bergman said that callers should not give up if they don’t get through on the first attempt.

“Just hike around and keep trying us,” she said. “Eventually you’re probably going to connect.”

Moving out of a steep-sided valley to a nearby ridgeline, for example, would be a good thing to try, she said. Once the call goes through, stay where you are, Bergman said.

In an area with poor cell phone coverage, sending a text message to 911 is also an option. This is as simple as sending a regular text, and typing “911” where you would normally enter the recipient’s name or number. Texting back and forth with a dispatcher allows for clear and accurate communication in situations where a phone connection is breaking up badly or the call keeps dropping.

For visitors who are traveling in the backcountry by car, many of today’s vehicles are equipped with satellite systems, such as GM’s OnStar and Ford’s Sync. Although these systems cannot make 911 calls directly, they can connect the caller to a 24/7 service center, where the operator will be able to patch them through to local dispatch, Bergman said. Garmin’s handheld InReach devices work in a similar way.

Once a caller has connected with one of GRCC’s dispatchers, the next step is to confirm their location, Bergman said. The caller’s phone may provide some indication of where it is automatically, but the dispatcher will always want to confirm this by some other means, so they know they are sending emergency responders to the right place.

In the backcountry, the most accurate way to describe location is by latitude and longitude, and most smart phones can determine this with good precision, even if they are out of cell service.

GRCC recommends a free app called What3Words as a good way to communicate coordinates, Bergman said. What3Words takes data from the caller’s phone, and converts it into a unique three word phrase. The caller can read or text that phrase to the emergency dispatcher, who then uses a “reverse lookup” to identify the caller’s precise location.

Depending on how remote that location is, anyone calling 911 from the backcountry should have a realistic expectation about how long it will take for emergency responders to reach them, Bergman said.

“They don’t realize, if they’ve gone two hours into the woods, it’s still going to take us two hours to get to them.”

Because of the possibility of prolonged response times, all of GRCC’s dispatchers receive training in emergency medical dispatching. The training is focused on providing EMT advice over the phone, on everything from how to give CPR to how to apply pressure to a bleed. Dispatchers will stay on the phone for as long as the caller needs them, Bergman said.

(William Spicer is a Gunnison-based writer.)