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Your life depends on your phone company’s level of 9-1-1 service
The names may change, but the dramatic stories do not. And all revolve around a technology most of us now take for granted...the simple act of dialing 9-1-1.
Take 4-year-old Bailee Johnson, who saved her mother’s life. When Kim’s morning alarm clock rang, she never moved. Little Bailee shook her, hollered at her, then dialed 9-1-1 when there was no response.
Putting her preschool emergency-response education to work, Bailee calmly told the 9-1-1 dispatcher her name and address. Then she explained that her mother was diabetic and needed help. After hanging up the phone, she unlocked the door and waited for paramedics to arrive. A glucose drip administered by the paramedics revived Kim quickly.
Emergency
It may seem like this life-saving technology has been around forever, but it is relatively new. In 1967, the Federal Communications Commission met with AT&T and asked if they could establish a universal emergency number. They chose 9-1-1 because it was easy to remember, plus it had never been put in use as an area code, office code, or service code. The first 9-1-1 call was made in 1968 in Haleyville, Ala.
By 1987, 50 percent of the U.S. population had access to the emergency service number, and in 2000, that had grown to 93 percent of the population and 96 percent of the geography. Today, 99 percent of the population is covered by at least basic 9-1-1 service. For typical land lines, that number is almost impossibly good. However, cell phones have quickly and dramatically changed emergency response, particularly since over 8 million Americans rely on wireless communications for their primary service, with more dropping land lines every day.
“Before cell phones, time was almost never on our side,” says Kevin Harner, a member of Rocky Mountain Rescue Group based in Boulder, Colo. “When someone was injured in the back country, the 9-1-1 call usually came from a friend who had hiked out, then driven to the nearest house. By the time we could respond, hours and hours had gone by. Cell phones have changed that.
“In 2004, for example, a plane took off from Longmont, Colo., flew into bad weather, and crashed in the mountains. Both occupants survived and began making calls. They were on the ground, in fog, with no visibility, but the call came into a Boulder tower and they knew they were flying generally southwest. We were able to keep in touch with them while rescuers honed in on the plane’s emergency-locator beacon. Using triangulation technology from various team members, we found them in less than two hours.”
Quick response
Mark Magnuson, chief ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park, tells a similar tale. “When I was working at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming,” he says, “two climbers fell and suffered head injuries. Thirty seconds later we were talking to someone on the scene with a cell phone. They reported location, status, weather, description of injuries, everything we needed to know. Before cell phones, we would not have gotten the first call until at least six hours had passed.
“In urban settings, statistics have shown that if trauma patients get advanced care within the first hour of injury, the chances for survival and recovery go way up,” Magnuson adds. “It’s called the Golden Hour, and now it applies to back-country injuries. It can be the difference between life and death.”
Despite these feel-good stories, cell phones have their drawbacks. Kevin Harner points out that triangulation—the technology that provides the caller location—is in its infancy. Generally the dispatcher who receives the call only knows which tower picked up the call and relayed it.
“You could be up in the mountains and dial 9-1-1,” Harner says, “and have a tower in the next county pick up the call. It can be confusing, so know where you are. Give the dispatcher your number so if the call is dropped, they can call back. And always, always carry extra batteries.”
Even more impressive than the 9-1-1 service itself, is what it takes to maintain it. There are now more than 200 million emergency calls each year, and a company called Intrado manages the data for 90 percent of them.
“It’s a daunting task,” says Scott Fincher, senior marketing communications manager for safety and security. “You have to realize there are 500,000 data changes each day that come from changed numbers and such. In addition, our municipalities create 10,000 boundary changes every month. Our biggest challenge right now, though, is wireless. Half the emergency calls made now are from wireless phones and they must be answered. Still, everyone should know that the person answering probably doesn’t know your phone number or where you are. All rural residents should call their phone carriers and ask what the level of emergency service is.”
His latest invention is a basket carrier that mounts to the loader’s forks and is used to speed the harvesting process.
Dodds’ real-world, in-the-field problem-solving is laying a solid foundation for his chosen field of study, ag engineering.
Mathew Jarosz’ experience in the family business and what he is learning in his high school ag education program and FFA is pointing him to an ag-related career as well. The skills he has learned on the crop-judging team have peaked an interest in the technical side of agriculture such as soil chemistry. But according to his father, Mathew likes to tinker, so he may be steered to a machine-design or engineering curriculum.
Here’s what’s what:
Basic 9-1-1 means a dispatcher answers, but must be told the caller’s phone number and location.
Enhanced 9-1-1 means the call is routed to the correct location, and the dispatcher knows the phone number and address.
Wireless Phase 1 means the dispatcher receives the wireless number and delivers the location of the cell tower handling the call.
Wireless Phase II means the dispatcher receives the phone number and location.
Once you know your level of service, be sure to train your kids how to use it.
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