METCAD Telecommunicators provide critical and often lifesaving services to the residents and visitors of Champaign County. Telecommunicators answer emergency and non-emergency phone calls and provide routine and emergency dispatch for local police, fire, and ambulance services across Champaign County…
North Country lawmakers want state task force report on cell phone coverage made public (NY)
Sep 10, 2021 — North Country lawmakers want an update from the state task force that was set up to find solutions to gaps in cell phone service in rural areas, including many parts of the North Country.
The task force was established in September 2019. According to a group of Republican and Democratic regional lawmakers, it met several times shortly after being created but has not issued a formal report or recommendations.
“For the sake of public safety, but also economic development, these cell gaps need to be closed,” said State Senator Dan Stec of Warren County.
Ricky Provost, Franklin County’s Emergency Services director described how spotty or no cell service can impact assistance getting to people in an emergency…
Craven County has almost 30 public safety job openings (NC)
While many people are still unemployed as a result of the pandemic, there are almost 30 public safety job openings in Craven County.
“The North Carolina Department of Public Safety is always on the lookout for talented, dedicated individuals interested in a public safety career,” said Margaret Ekam, NCDPS Communications Operations Manager.
Most jobs within public safety are continuously hiring as stated on the NCDPS and the Craven County job openings pages.
Ekam said statewide openings in healthcare, trades, corrections, juvenile justice and probation/parole are needed the most….
Springwater-Wayland EMS chief recounts New York City on 9/11
WAYLAND — For everyone old enough to remember Sept. 11, 2001, what started out as a perfectly normal day turned out to be harrowing. We can remember exactly where we were when we heard the news of the planes hitting the Twin Towers. As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the largest attack on American soil, one local EMT shares his story of being in New York City on that day.
Fred Grambs, chief for Springwater-Wayland EMS, was a captain for Lindenwood Volunteer Ambulance Corps in Queens. He recalls arriving comfortably at work, and then, when the second plane hit, his boss immediately relieved him for duty with the ambulance service.
“I called the base to find out where our ambulances were, and couldn’t get through. I knew we had one crew on, we had two ambulances, so I sat back and being an officer, I had to think about what to do,” he remembered…
COVID claims life of 2nd Livingston sheriff’s employee: ‘She was like a guardian angel’ (LA)
A week after an ambulance rushed Laura James’ husband to the hospital with dangerously low oxygen levels, she followed.
It was the Saturday before Hurricane Ida made landfall. Both husband and wife had been diagnosed with severe cases of COVID-19.
Laura insisted on being treated at the same Ochsner facility.
“She wanted to be where I was,” said Richard James, her husband of 22 years…
