美国国家公共电台 NPR--Callers find it is taking longer to get emergency services in Portland, Ore.

Callers find it is taking longer to get emergency services in Portland, Ore.

Transcript¹

The city adopted a new 911 system to triage calls and streamline² dispatching. But many people in need of help find themselves on hold. The same system has caused problems in other cities.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It is taking longer to get through to 911 in Portland, Ore. The wait time increased after the city adopted new dispatch software. Here's Jonathan Levinson of Oregon Public Broadcasting.

JONATHAN LEVINSON, BYLINE³: On an unusually slow day at Portland's 911 call center, Kristina Gore⁴ takes a call from a woman in respiratory distress⁵.

KRISTINA GORE: Hold on with me. I'm just going to have some questions for you. Are you there by yourself?

LEVINSON: After 40 seconds taking the caller's basic information, a screen pops up prompting additional questions.

GORE: Are you clammy or having cold sweats?

LEVINSON: One minute and 45 seconds elapses before an ambulance is sent to the woman's house.

GORE: That was a super typical, run-of-the-mill ProQA call.

LEVINSON: ProQA is software that prompts a series of standardized⁶ questions, where each answer determines the next step in the dispatching process. Those questions are supposed to help a dispatcher determine how urgent a call is and how to respond. Last year, after Portland transitioned to the new software to triage medical and fire calls, hold times surged. In the month after ProQA launched in Portland, the number of people who waited five minutes or more for a 911 dispatcher to answer their call shot up almost 500% compared to the month before. And nine months in, those numbers have increased even more before.

BOB COZZIE: Before ProQA, they would just be responding with lights and sirens on everything.

LEVINSON: Bob Cozzie is director of Portland's Bureau of Emergency Communications.

COZZIE: What ProQA does is helps us define exactly what type of response needs to go to a particular call type.

LEVINSON: Cozzie says the delays are due to a massive increase in call volume and short-staffing.

COZZIE: For us to have been able to meet that challenge, we would have had to see that call volume coming about two years earlier because of how long it takes our trainees⁷ to get through the process.

LEVINSON: But dispatchers say the regimented questions make each call last a little longer, and that extra time adds up. One dispatcher wrote anonymously⁸ to an elected official, quote, "what is really happening is not shown or spoken of. Instead, some skewed numbers about staffing and call times are thrown out. And all of us here actually working the floor gasp⁹ every time," end quote. Dispatchers wrote they were ignored after they pleaded with management not to implement¹⁰ the protocols¹¹ over the summer, when call volume typically spikes¹².

It's not just Portland having issues.

BARBARA HUBER: Yes, we are using it.

LEVINSON: Barbara Huber is the fire chief in Pueblo¹³, Colo., and she says their times increased by about a minute and a half after adopting ProQA.

HUBER: We're trying to find ways of expediting that dispatch time.

LEVINSON: Pueblo and Portland are among the 3,700 911 agencies using ProQA, according to Priority Dispatch, the company that sells the software. The parent company was sued in 2019 after dispatchers in Salt Lake City failed to send help to an assault in progress. And in Pennsylvania that same year, dispatchers told local media the software was going to get someone killed. Minneapolis abandoned the system in 2019, citing slower call times. The problems are so common, Priority Dispatch has an entire webpage devoted¹⁴ to debunking¹⁵ what the company calls myths about the system.

Priority Dispatch president Brian Dale explains the problem this way.

BRIAN DALE: When agencies first implement, there is usually a slight delay until the dispatchers feel more and more comfortable working with the system and working with the software.

LEVINSON: ProQA was created by Dr. Jeffrey Clawson. He's also the founder¹⁶ of the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch, the agency that sets national standards and accredits¹⁷ 911 agencies. To get accredited¹⁸, agencies have to use ProQA. Dale downplays the conflict of interest.

DALE: I think that the academy and Priority Dispatch both have done a lot of good in the communities that we work in.

LEVINSON: In Portland, ProQA is still being used for fire and medical calls, but city officials' enthusiasm for the protocols may be waning¹⁹. They confirmed to Oregon Public Broadcasting that plans to expand ProQA to police calls are on hold indefinitely.

For NPR News, I'm Jonathan Levinson in Portland.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGUS MACRAE'S "SOLSTICE")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 streamline   

vt.使成流线型；使简化；使现代化

参考例句：

• We must streamline our methods.我们必须简化方法。
• Any liquid or gas passing it will have streamline flow.任何通过它的液体或气体将呈流线型的流动。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

5 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

6 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

7 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

8 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

9 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

12 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

14 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

15 debunking   

v.揭穿真相，暴露( debunk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The debunking of religion has been too successful. 对于宗教的揭露太成功了。 来自互联网

16 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

17 accredits   

v.相信( accredit的第三人称单数 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• NZQA also accredits industry training organisations to register workplace assessors. NZQA同时也授权行业培训组织为实习车间主管进行登记注册。 来自互联网
• Accredits the personnel wages and welfare and the enterprise gets unhooked, An Jianju direct leadership. 派驻人员工资福利与企业脱钩，受安监局直接领导。 来自互联网

18 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。

19 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》