Turns out, Grand Traverse 9-1-1 has a smarter way to protect us.
It’s called Smart911 and it’s a game-changer, according to Leah Hornacek, the administrative supervisor for Central Dispatch in Traverse City.
“We’re the first county in the state to approve Smart911 and soon the entire state of Michigan will have it,” she told Rotarians at our weekly meeting Tuesday at the Traverse City Golf & Country Club.
What makes Smart911 different is its ability pinpoint and locate emergencies quicker.
“It dramatically increases the amount of information available to first responders,” she said.
“We had a local case where a man was coughing but couldn’t talk when he called Smart911,” said Leah. “We were able to pinpoint his location through GPS much quicker. Responders got to him 11 minutes quicker than they would have without Smart911. So he survived. Those 11 minutes were the difference between life and death.”
Leah said Central Dispatch logged nearly 40,000 phone calls in 2014 and 75 percent of those calls – more than 30,000 – were from cell phones.
Another interesting statistic she cited was that Central Dispatch gets 25 “hang up” calls per day.
“How many of you currently use Smart911,” Leah asked the club, who noticed only a few hands raised.
“Well, that’s not surprising,” she said. “Right now, only 10 percent of the people in our area use it. We have to get the word out.”
Dale Chilcote
Rotary Club of Traverse City