Imagine you’re in an emergency situation.

You grab your phone and dial 911, but are you prepared for what comes next? Governor Kim Reynolds has designated April as 911 Education Month in Iowa, a time to educate yourself on how to properly use 911 in emergency situations. Washington County Dispatcher Sandy Lovetinsky advises what information callers should have ready, “They’re going to have to know their address, their phone number, what’s going on. We’re going to ask them what their name is., Iif somebody is injured we’re going to ask them what their name is, how old they are, if they’re conscious or breathing if it’s a medical call. We may ask their age, there’s just a lot of different things we ask for different calls but we just got to have the information [to] send the right people to the right place every time.”

If you misdial 911, Lovetinsky urges you to not hang up, otherwise the dispatchers will call you back to make sure you’re okay. Lovetinsky says to wait until you’re on the line with a dispatcher and tell them you dialed them by mistake. The Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management advises to only call 911 in an emergency, don’t let your kids play with cell phones, and teach your children the correct way to use 911.