HCMC EMS Communications Overview

It is our mission to deliver the highest level of quality customer service to the public, external agencies and internal staff, with courteous and immediate response, effective resource management and professional communications, using the highest standards for excellence in public safety.

The Hennepin EMS Emergency Communication Center (ECC) is based at Hennepin County Medical Center. The West Medical Resource Control Center (WMRCC) is fully integrated into the daily operations of the Hennepin EMS ECC. Staffed with 15 Emergency Medical Dispatchers, the center provides dispatching services, pre-arrival instruction and resource coordination and information to Hennepin EMS Paramedics, the Hennepin County EMS System, the region and the State of Minnesota.

The ECC is a Secondary PSAP supporting Hennepin EMS Paramedics and managing deployment of up to 16 ambulances. Our Emergency Medical Dispatchers handle more than 50,000 calls for service each year from the citizens and visitors of Hennepin County, Minnesota. 9-1-1 calls are directed from

8 primary 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points that serve the 14 municipalities in the Hennepin EMS primary service area, and the State Patrol. The service area covers 266 square miles and covers a population of over 700,000. In addition, calls are processed from EMS mutual aid partners, health care facilities and direct from the public. ECC personnel also assist EMS deployment to sporting events such as  Minnesota Twins Baseball, Minnesota Vikings Football and public events such as the Twin City Marathon and the Minneapolis Aquatennial. With the added responsibility of WMRCC, our personnel support EMS throughout the state and region.

Staffing (Back to top)

All dispatchers are fulltime and come from a variety of backgrounds in dispatch and public safety. Dispatchers are Emergency Medical Technician or Paramedic trained and certified as Emergency Medical Dispatchers from the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch (NAED). Staff have additional training in the National Incident Management System, Hazardous Materials, Incident Dispatch, CBRNE and others to support EMS response.

In addition to regular dispatch duties, personnel spend some time in the field to keep EMT or Paramedic skills current and interact with field staff. Many of our staff are also involved in other aspects of public safety such as the fire service, law enforcement, NDMS DMAT, EMS Education, Minnesota Metro Region Incident Dispatch Team, Communications Training Officer Team, Quality Improvement Unit, public relations events or may be EMS field providers at other agencies.

Equipment (Back to top)

With 5 primary workstations built by Watson Dispatch, the center uses the Tritech VisiCAD Suite Computer Aided Dispatch(CAD) System directly linked with the City of Minneapolis Emergency Communication Center (MECC). The CAD system is integrated with the Tritech VisiNET Mobile application running on Panasonic Toughbook 30's in each ambulance. The mobile gives Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) using GPS hardware from Trimble Navigation. As a secondary 911 PSAP; EMS Communications uses the Plant/CML Computer Based 9-1-1 Sentinel Telephony workstation. The Hennepin EMS Dispatch uses the Motorola Gold Elite Radio Console on the State of Minnesota ARMER 800Mhz Radio System as well as monitors VHF EMS Conventional frequencies. All voice transmissions are recorded using a Wygant Encore Digital logging system.

West Medical Resource Control Center (WMRCC) (Back to top)

Emergency Medical Dispatchers also integrated into the West Medical Resource Control Center. WMRCC acts as the coordinator and information resource for field personnel operating in the Hennepin County area, the region and the state. If paramedics need to be connected to an emergency physician for consultation or online medical direction, require patient disposition assistance or information relayed, our staff will assist. WMRCC can complete phone-to-phone, phone-to-radio and radio-to-radio patches between paramedics and physicians at all hospitals statewide. WMRCC has a variety of core functions that enhance communications and coordination for EMS providers in Minnesota. In addition to local Hennepin County EMS system function, WMRCC also provides the following services to any EMS entity statewide:

• Monitor the status of local hospitals, and notifies EMS agencies when hospitals are temporarily closed to ambulances due to high volume.
• Disaster – Major Incident EMS Communication/Coordination point
• Monitor Minnesota's Statewide EMS (National EMS) frequency VMED28, ready to assist ambulance crews from anywhere in the state or region.
• Local coordination of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), specifically involved in hospital surge capacity and the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS).
• Metro Region Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team answering point.
  Minnesota EMS Honor Guard answering point.
• Back-up for East MRCC as requested
• Back-up for Regional Hospital Preparedness Coordinators across Minnesota
• 24/7 EMS System Information resource.

Communication Center Key Measures (Back to top)

• Customer Service Complaints - 0
• Call Answer to Dispatch <20 seconds
• Response re-assignments due to error 0%
• Answer phone calls < 3 rings
• MPDS QA Individual 90%
• MPDS QA/QI  - Center as a whole 90%
• SOP Compliance 100%
  
  

• National Academy of Emergency Dispatch (NAED)
• Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO)
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
  • Ninety percent (90%) of all 9-1-1 calls arriving at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) shall be answered within ten (10) seconds
  • Ninety-five (95%) of all 9-1-1 calls should be answered within twenty (20) seconds.
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1061 – Standard for Professional Qualification for Public Safety Telecommunicator
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1221 – Installation, Maintenance and use of Emergency Services Communication Systems
  • 95% of emergency call processing and dispatching shall be completed within 60 seconds
  • 99% of call processing and dispatching shall be completed within 90 seconds from call receipt to dispatch.
    
• Hennepin County EMS Council
  • For Code 3 Responses in Hennepin County
    • 90% of all Code 3 responses must arrive at the scene within 10:59 (ten minutes and fifty nine seconds)
    • 95% of all Code 3 responses must arrive at the scene within 12:59 and 
    • 98% of all Code 3 responses must arrive at the scene within 17:59.
      
      
  • For Code 2 Responses within Hennepin County 
• 90% of all Code 2 responses must arrive at the scene within 20:59, 
• 95% of all Code 2 responses must arrive at the scene within 25:59 and 
• 98% of all Code 2 responses must arrive at the scene within 30:59.

 

EMT-EMD Job Qualifications (Back to top)

Career Opportunities with HCMC EMS Communications (Back to top)

Currently there are no positions available in Emergency Communications, however you can Click here to go to the HCMC employment web page, then click on "View current employment opportunities" to view other available positions

First Response Agencies Served (Back to top)

Deephaven Police
Eden Prairie Police & Fire
Excelsior Fire
Golden Valley Police & Fire
Hopkins Police & Fire
Metro Transit Police
Minneapolis Police & Fire
Minnesota State Troopers
Minnetonka Police & Fire
Richfield Police & Fire
Saint Anthony Police & Fire
Saint Louis Park Police & Fire
South Lake Police
University of Minnesota Ambulance
University of Minnesota Police

9-1-1 PSAPs Served (Back to top)

City of Eden Prairie 9-1-1
City’s of Golden Valley/Saint Louis Park 9-1-1
City of Hopkins 9-1-1
City of Minnetonka 9-1-1
City of Richfield 9-1-1
Hennepin County Sheriff Communications
Minneapolis Emergency Communication Center
Minnesota State Patrol
University of Minnesota 9-1-1

Municipalities Served (Back to top)

Deephaven
Eden Prairie
Excelsior
Greenwood
Golden Valley
Hopkins
Minneapolis
Minnetonka
Richfield
Shorewood
Saint Anthony
Saint Louis Park
Tonka Bay
Woodland

EMS Agencies Served / Mutual Aid Partners (Back to top)

HCMC EMS Paramedics
Allina Medical Transportation
Edina Fire & Ambulance
Life Link III
North Ambulance
Ridgeview EMS

EMS Links (Back to top)

Hennepin County, www.co.hennepin.mn.us
Hennepin County Medical Center, www.hcmc.org
Hennepin County EMS System Planning and Regulation – www.hennepinems.us
Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board, www.emsrb.state.mn.us
Dispatch Monthly
National Academy of EMD
National Registry of EMTs
National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA), www.nena.org
APCO International - Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials
Minnesota Chapter of APCO
Metro Emergency Services Board, www.mn-mesb.org
National Disaster Medical System, www.oep-ndms.dhhs.gov
Metropolitan Medical Response System, www.mmrs.fema.gov
Federal Emergency Management Agency, www.fema.gov

For more information: (Back to top)

Chris Kummer
Manager - Communications
Emergency Medical Services
Hennepin County Medical Center
701 Park Ave South, MC 825
Minneapolis, MN 55415-1829
e-mail: chris.kummer@hcmed.org