911 Authority Approves Officers
By HOLLY TINNEY
The Jasper County Joint 911 Authority met on February 14 at Jasper Fire Station 3, and after the meeting was called to order, the public comments portion of the meeting featured Jasper County Deputy and Deputy EMA Director Cain Bentley, who thanked the board for the new 911 director, stating the changes she has made are effective and promote teamwork between the departments, and her leadership has provided positive impacts in many instances.
After the public comments, official business began with appointments to positions, and Jeffrey Lee was nominated to remain chairperson. Ronnie Payne was nominated as vice chair, Sabrina Westbrook was nominated as treasurer, and Julie Bennett was nominated for secretary. All motions for nominations were passed unanimously.
There was much discussion of the issues with AT&T, as the 911 center still has copper lines instead of fiber-optic in some places, which raised questions concerning the upcoming necessary upgrades/installation to the 911 center and its technology.
The costs associated with upgrading the lines are significantly less than the fees and additional charges rendered by AT&T if the changes are not made. Along with those changes from AT&T, there are also updates that will be required for the recording station to operate with the new system.
Director Jennifer Smith provided more information in regards to calls and training, as well as finances and technology concerns regarding 911 operations. Recently, 911 dispatchers have begun logging calls for Animal Control and Code Enforcement.
Their travel is now reported to dispatchers not only for safety concerns, but for tracking mileage and fuel as well.
The 911 center is currently fully staffed at all hours to assist citizens with their needs for emergency personnel, and all dispatchers are currently working towards various certifications, including telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR) certifications and Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) training.
Upon completion, the EMD training will help ensure that dispatchers are able to provide quality care and appropriate resources in the most efficient manner, as well as improved responses to cardiac and respiratory cases, altered mental statues and trauma.
With this training, dispatchers will be able to better prepare callers and responding personnel from the onset of their emergency, and more thorough communication between callers and responders. The director is working on ways to highlight the program and keep the public informed of the changes coming to the 911 program.
