Watch Jefferson County

An incident today (January 14, 2008) highlighted an opportunity for us, as citizens, to help our elderly and/or shut-in neighbors. The daughter and caretaker of an elderly gentlemen in Shannondale had to take a two-day roadtrip on business that left her father on his own overnight - not an unusual nor worrisome circumstance since the gentleman, though requiring a walker, is alert, bright, and is able to take care of himself for a few days without outside assistance. He is, however, housebound, and in his daughter's absence, his only contact with the outside world - especially in an emergency situation - is via telephone. He has a cordless phone near where he sits during the day, and has a wired phone near his bed, both of which are connected to the local telephone company.

Today, his daughter attempted normal contact via phone with her father to make sure he was alright, but there was no answer. She tried repeatedly but was unable to make contact. Worried that something was awry, she contacted both the Shannondale Safety Patrol (SSP) and Jefferson County Law Enforcement and asked that they perform a welfare check. Upon arrival, the responders determined that her father was happily just fine, but upon investigation, found the house phone line to be dead thus rendering it impossible for his daughter to reach him - and worse - rendering him unable to call out for help if he had an emergency!!! This situation ended with the father conversing with his daughter over a responder's cell phone and conveying to her that all was well, and the phone company being notified of the service outage.

Unfortunately, this occurrence can happen in a number of situations in Jefferson County (particularly on the mountain - especially in light of the fact that Winter is here, and the chance of electrical and/or telephone line service being interrupted by fallen lines or other problems is greatly increased). In this case, SSP left behind a used, non-activated cell phone that the father could use to contact 911 in the event of emergency until the telephone service could be restored.

Now to the point - especially for those of us who have upgraded cell phones and don't know what to do with our older model handsets: An often forgotten fact is that ALL cellular phones, even when not being actively used, have the capability to dial and reach 911 emergency services. All that is required is that the phone be charged, and that an operational local cellular tower be within range (tower service is available almost everywhere in Jefferson County almost all the time). No matter if the phone was being used for Sprint, AT&T, Cingular, etc., if someone dials 911 on the phone, it WILL connect with emergency services.

SO, what we are asking is this: if you have old cellular phone(s) that you can donate to the cause, SSP is endeavoring to place those phones - as emergency contact devices - with those who need them. You may remove the card from the phone and it will still work with E911 only.

If you have a phone or phones you can donate, know someone who may benefit from having one, and/or need one yourself, please contact either Dave Withers (Dave_SSP15, through this website's private messaging, or via dmwithers@gmail.com) or Ron Sikerica (Ron, through this website's private messaging, or via SSP@frontiernet.net) or call SSP at 725-SAFE.

PLEASE HELP US WITH THIS IMPORTANT MISSION! LET'S RECYCLE THOSE OLD PHONES AND PUT THEM TO GOOD USE! THANKS.