The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) highly recommends to all Stark Countians that they read the current series being run by The Repository (Sunday through Wednesday) on the details underlying the justification of why Stark County's 9-1-1 emergency response system needs fixing and fixing now.As an aside, The Report evaluates that The Reps 9-1-1 series will prove to be "award-winning" journalism.
One of The Repository's most knowledgeable and articulate commenters - Don Cirelli (son of Canton Councilwoman Mary Cirelli), whose comments can be found on the "online" Rep, immediately following the base article he is commenting on), has proposed (The Report's characterization) in a comment to The Reps Sunday publication of the story: EMS: How long does an emergency rescue crew take to get to your house? - the following as - his way - to fix Stark County's 9-1-1, to wit:
I am concerned about the effect that rationalization would have upon the response time and level of service in the City of Canton. Our own emergency system is second to none, in my opinion. Having worked as a 9-1-1 operator, I witnessed first-hand the professionalism of our highly organized Fire and ambulance system we enjoy here in Canton. There is none better in Stark County. One lesson I have learned in life the hard way is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Canton's system is not broken and never has been. I am very concerned what bringing in a committee of disparate individuals from across the county to 'fix' 9-1-1 will do to our local emergency response system. 'Watered down' is the phrase that comes to my mind. I trust the people who run Canton's 9-1-1 system. I don't know these other folks, and clearly some of them have screwed up royally in other parts of the county. I don't want them to 'share' their 'expertise' (and authority) with anyone in Canton. I don't buy into the idea that rationalization will improve service in the City of Canton. It's already as good as it gets here. Been there, done that with the 'fixing' of things that don't need to be fixed. The only way I would feel confident about combining our own system with the rest of the county is if our own officials ran the whole thing.Is the Cirelli proposal politically viable in the milieu of current Stark County politics?
Don Cirelli-Cell phone calls are still transferred to the City of Canton from the county only if the caller knows they are in Canton. Canton’s facility is state of the art but it still is subject to the antiquated system in place that cannot locate cell phones. This is the 21st century and more and more people are using cell phones and not land lines and the problem with Canton’s and everyone else’s system will only grow. It is time to fix the system as a whole and not keep piecing it together with missing parts. Example: If someone calls from a cell phone and they are on a stretch of road divided by the City and a Township and the caller does not know what side is which? Who gets the call, the county and than they try to transfer it to the proper center. If the call is not dropped it can go to the wrong department wasting more time, and than takes another transfer. We need to eliminate wasted seconds that can mean life or death, get the call to a center and have the closest department respond regardless of jurisdictional boundaries PERIOD! Listen to some of the repeated transferred 911 calls that are dropped, sent to the wrong department and transferred again. When someone’s life is on the line that extra minute or two could be fatal!
ReplyDeleteThe system in Canton should be state of the art, as it costs the tax payer lots more money to use 9-1-1. I've lived in the city and have been a tax payer for over four decades and when I got sick and my spouse needed to make the call we got a very adequate response. However, we were also BILLED, by the city to the tune of $576 for this "run". ($576 X 10,000 runs per year adds A LOT of money to their system) Sure, my insurance paid it, BUT it gets added to the "high cost of health care". The city has NOT offered to remove this financial burden from the tax payers if the sales tax is increased ..... Additionally, the Rep's reports are not giving all the facts ...... I did not see populations numbers for any of the 28 districts, or any kind of ratio for calls per person, per EMT, etc ......... we aren't getting a complete, clear, and concise picture.
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