St. John’s EMS Communication Center began in 1981 as a one-person part-time day position and has grown into a center with up to five Emergency Medical Dispatchers providing 24 hours-a-day operation.

In the past, during the evening hours, there was only a three-person crew available for ambulance services. This created challenges when numerous calls were received at once. The addition of the St. John’s Life Line Helicopter Service in 1984 created a need for a 12-hour shift from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., in order to best meet the demands of the region.

Over the years, it has become apparent that the emergency medical dispatch system is a tremendous benefit to the community by providing post-dispatch and pre-arrival instructions to callers. The Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) was adopted in the late 1980’s and is still in place today. The use of the flip-card priority dispatch system has since evolved into a software program called ProQA™.

In the late 1990’s, St. John’s EMS Communication Center began to provide dispatch services for several counties in southwest Missouri. Arrangements were made with the local Primary Service Answering Points (PSAPs) and 911 centers to transfer callers requesting emergency medical services to the St. John’s EMS Communication Center.

The St. John’s EMS Communications Center relocated to a new facility in summer of 2005. The new center was constructed utilizing best practices from other local and regional dispatch centers. This facility incorporates premier equipment and technologies including a NENA (National Emergency Number Association) compliant E-911 phone system, a state-of-the-art CAD system, and ergonomic workstations.