County
Again Discusses 911 Problems
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court on March 13 again discussed problems with the county’s 911 telephone system, which, according to County Judge Wilburn Bednar, is managed by the court. Six members of the county’s volunteer Emergency Medical Services attended the meeting.
Emergency Medical Technician Mitchell Jansa described a recent incident when the EMS response time was at least 30 minutes because EMT’s weren’t paged, and were not easily reached by telephone. He said the pagers themselves work great, and the problem is elsewhere in the system. EMT Cecelia Schwartz, detailing another incident, described problems responding to a morning accident in the fog on Highway 158. She said she received no page and her calls to the sheriff’s office were not answered. EMT Mark Frysak said people have called him to complain that 911 calls are sometimes unanswered.
Everyone involved seemed to agree that a 30-minute EMS response time is inadequate, that the 911 system is not working as well as it should, and that it must be improved. Precisely what the problems are and exactly how to fix them were less clear-cut.
How the 911 System Works
Currently, 911 phones are in three locations: emergency management coordinator Veronica Schroyer’s house, the sheriff’s office, and the sheriff’s house. When 911 is called, each of the phones rings, and should be answered at the location responsible at that particular time. Encoders, which send a simultaneous signal to the pagers EMTs wear, are located in the sheriff’s office and in Schroyer’s house. If the call is answered at the sheriff’s house, which has no encoder, EMT’s must be called by telephone. (Neither Sheriff “Booger” Pruit nor his wife is paid for handling 911 calls from their house.)
Pruit said he had not yet been able to get prices for additional encoders, but he would check into it further.
Schroyer suggested having Martin County answer Glasscock County’s 911 calls, since their system is staffed continuously. However, the commissioners were not receptive to that idea. It was not clear whether Martin County would be able to actually page Glasscock’s EMT’s, or if they would just take the 911 call and then telephone a dispatcher in Glasscock County. In addition, there was some question as to whether Martin County personnel would be sufficiently familiar with accident locations in Glasscock County.
What’s Being Done
After lengthy discussion, the commissioners decided to ask Jim and Diane Havlak to take 911 training and to station a fourth 911 phone at their house (there is a line in their house from the days when the Kingston's answered 911 calls from that location). There was no discussion of what the Havlak's would be paid for the 911 duty.
The court also decided to install outside telephone signals at Schroyer’s house so she can hear the 911 phone when she is outside, and to make the 911 phone inside her house ring with a louder signal. Schwartz said she would compile an updated list of EMT’s home and cell phone numbers for 911 dispatchers’ use. Schroyer says she tests the 911 lines daily to be sure they are working.
Other measures to improve the system are being discussed.
In another matter involving the EMS group, the commissioners said the county would pay the expenses for EMS volunteers to attend a 4-day conference in Ruidoso where they can get the hours necessary to keep their certifications current. Jansa said getting the hours is increasingly difficult since Diane Melton, who was certified to teach the needed courses, is no longer with the group.