We at the Johnson County KS Emergency Communications Center pride ourselves on our operations and the technology we have available to use to do our jobs every day. We provide Fire and EMS services, and are a secondary PSAP, providing 911 call taking and dispatching for fire and medical calls, with certified EMD call takers for medical events. We service 10 fire agencies and 2 ambulance agencies, dispatching and managing resources before, during, and after events.

As a proud Colorado native, I thought about all of my friends, co-workers and customers who will be coming to APCO 2017 in August. As a ski patroller (during the winter months), I thought that I should make sure they’re prepared. With that being said, if you’re a public safety professional headed to the Mile High City of Denver for the APCO 2017 Conference, this blog has everything you must do!

Technology is pushing the 911 industry forward. Technological advancement is an important element of helping emergency responders and dispatchers be efficient at their jobs, and because of this, it is always a challenge to keep up with new emerging technologies. Of course the private sector gets the latest in new developments first, and then they work their way into public safety market. What similarly seems to happen is that the digital side of the product pushes the envelope, and afterwards, the hardware side is left to catch up.

Perhaps you’ve been noticing that your current work space just isn’t what is used to be. Maybe the furniture is beginning to show some breakdown, or perhaps the style is simply outdated and unpleasant to look at. Even worse, maybe your colleagues are hunched over the desks and operating their jobs in uncomfortable positions. And they’re telling you about it. (Image via GIPHY)

If you have ever bought a new house, you know that the house comes basically as a shell. Without knowing it, this probably means that you'll be getting carpet in your kitchen and laminate flooring throughout. As for the carpet, you'll get the choice a hideous shade of gray or an even worse shade of what they call "beige" and a lackluster carpet pad that might as well be non-existent. Anything that would be included and installed as “standard” is often the cheapest of the cheap. You'll have to expand your budget or subtract some common features if you’re even going to start thinking about doing things like changing the paint color or adding hardwood floors. All the sudden that dream home you'd visioned is looking a bit more cloudy.

You’re right in the middle of shopping for new dispatch furniture, and you realize that you don’t know what to do about all the ancillary storage and furniture in the room. You can’t just keep the old steel HON file cabinets when they are ugly and do not match anything. So how do you complete your room after shopping for dispatch furniture?

I have witnessed many instances where 911 Comm Center staff members are shopping for new equipment, but they will not call any references of the vendors-in-question. I am not sure why this is? Maybe the dispatch managers know that the companies they’re looking into will only send them the “good” references, maybe they simply do not have the time to call around, or maybe they just feel silly asking someone else if they’ve made a good choice or not.

This is something that we get asked quite a bit. Understandably, many of you want to get the best value out of your purchase for dispatch furniture. This consists of the initial cost of the dispatch station as well as the expectant lifetime of the product and the warranty. Getting the most for your money is important no matter where you work.

My oldest son’s 17th birthday was on March 2nd. As many of you know, it’s incredible how kids change and grow by that age. As all parents feel about their children, I am so proud of him and what he has done so far in his life that I cannot say enough good things.

This brings me around to a Xybix installation job that I visited which installed in 1999. This means it was shortly before my son was even born. Just like my son has changed, how we build our dispatch consoles and even how we run the business at Xybix has transformed as well.

It’s obvious that radiology is a very prestigious and rewarding industry to get into. However, you have to admit that it is also, in many cases, a sedentary profession. During the analog imaging days, radiologists would spend much of their time standing at alternators, hanging film, and moving around their offices. Now with the advent of digital imaging, everything is at their fingertips, and the only time they need to leave their desks is to get something to eat, go to the bathroom, attend their meetings, etc.