Ebola Outbreak Prompts SF 911 Operators To Ask New Questions And Follow New Procedures

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) -- Each year, 911 dispatchers field more than a million calls.

As of Friday, operators in San Francisco will start doing something new -- all because of Ebola.

"If someone calls 911 and they say I'm very sick, I have a high fever, I'm throwing up - that immediately triggers the protocol in our system," said Anne Kronenberg of the SF Department of Emergency Management.

The suspicion of Ebola will prompt dispatchers to ask a new series of questions:

Have you traveled internationally in the last 21 days?
Have you been to one of three countries in West Africa?

Once answered, the system then takes over and decides what kind of dispatch it will be.

If Ebola is suspected, the word is spread to first responders - police, fire and ambulance drivers -- both in their on board computers and via the radio.

According to Francis Zamora of the SF Department of Emergency Management, they'll know what they're getting into.

"they can take the proper steps and don the proper protective equipment to deal with someone who may be symptomatic," said Zamora.

With that comes more training on the hazmat suits we've come to expect in cases of Ebola.

"We're sending out reminders of how to don that equipment and how to doff it, put it on and take it off, so our first responders protect themselves,' she said.