What is a Phone Pal Program?

The U.S. Dept. of Justice requires PSAPs to provide consult with and outreach to people with Disabilities. 

The term "Phone Pals" was coined in Texas some years ago for their TTY program, but, like many brand names, the words have become a generic description of any program where the PSAP works with the Deaf community. So no matter what it is called in your area, or what you want to call it -- we are all talking about the desire for the PSAP to reach out to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community,  and assure them that 9-1-1 works for them. It also helps the PSAP to do a better job.

The concept is very simple. The 911/TTY Phone Pal volunteers make weekly test calls to the PSAP. These calls are made randomly (tones/silent and varying times) to each shift. The calls are kept short so as not to interfere with any emergency calls. The caller always informs the dispatcher that it is a test call immediately, and if the dispatcher cannot take the call at that time (being sure it is a test first), s/he simply hits a canned message or types "BUSY SK". The TTY user then disconnects, documents, and tries again later. A typical TTY test call should not take more than a couple of minutes.

Examples of Similar Pal - type Programs

"We worked with both our hearing impaired community and our State agency. we set up a meeting and training session for an afternoon in our training room. The state agency brought along a simulator as well as several TTY's for our staff to practice with. We sat down across from a member of the group and exchanged TTY messages and learned the proper way to answer, ask questions and other slang which they may use. After this training, we took all but the State rep into the 911 center, we then had the State Rep place a 911 call on the TTY. Our staff handled the call just as if it was an actual call and the members were able to see 1) what we receive when the call comes in, 2) what our 911 system is capable of, 3) gain the confidence that our staff understands this system and will handle calls efficiently. We also have a stand alone unit which we tested and demonstrated as well."

"Our staff got extra training in TTYs and our hearing impaired community gained the confidence that both their emergency and non-emergency calls would be answered and handled as any other call."

"The meeting [with volunteers] went well and everyone learned something that day. We also left an open invitation to anyone who may move into the community and has questions to visit our center."