Lyon County Emergency Communications Center is once again inviting the community to adopt local dispatchers while celebrating National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week next month.
Dispatchers are often tasked with helping people in crisis — from fires to heart attacks to acts of violence. But longtime Powell Police Department dispatcher Bobbie Colvin says the hardest part of the job is being “only a voice.” While they send officers and other first responders to the scene of an emergency, dispatchers themselves must remain at their posts and wonder about the fate of those on the other end of the line.
San Bernardino County law enforcement, fire and government officials hailed the dawn of what they described as a new era in emergency response and disaster preparedness in the region as they broke ground on a new communications center to serve the county.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Nearly six years after Kyle Plush died after repeatedly calling 911 for help, his family is getting an update on improvements the city of Cincinnati promised to make.
CHICOPEE — Elected officials, first responders and more gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony of a new regional emergency communications center to be built at the old Salter College site at 645 Shawninigan Dr.
The new center is set to enhance and revolutionize the emergency response capabilities for the towns and cities it currently serves and allow more room for other communities to join.
Associated Press
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — A tech nonprofit is trying to set roots in Virginia to make emergency help accessible to everyone.
“Lack of access to emergency services because you’re not able to hear or speak out loud for help could really mean a death sentence for somebody,” said Gabriella Wong, founder of AccessSOS.
She had the idea to launch AccessSOS after her father, who is deaf, had an emergency.
“His gallbladder was making him feel very, very sick. He was not able to call 911 for help and his first instinct was to text me to call 911 for him,” she explains.
Unfortunately, Wong wasn’t near her phone.
“Realizing there was no one there to help on the other line he drove himself to the ER, and almost got into a car crash. He recounts to me as his head being hunched over, driving to the ER,” she says.
Wong says after that, she knew something needed to be done to give equal access to everyone in need of emergency help.
AccessSOS bridges the gap for anyone who isn’t able to verbally communicate their emergency or those who don’t even know it’s an option.
“Even if text 911 works in someone’s area, there’s still that lack of educational awareness of how to even send a text message to 911,” said Wong.
Fortunately, texting 911 is already an option in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
“You just use 911 as the phone number you’re texting and it’s nice if you can give us the address and the nature of your emergency in that initial text. That way we can just text back with some additional background or additional questions for you,” said Celeste Baldino with the Emergency Communications Center.
“Our goal is to launch in Virginia and nationwide so that you don’t have to be like ‘I am in New Mexico, can I use AccessSOS?’ We want to be as ubiquitous as 911,” said Wong.
In order to bring AccessSOS to Virginia they need a local foundation to sponsor their work and advocacy.
