Smart911 Being Adopted by Growing Number of Communities - USATODAY.com
A man who called 911 in Nashville recently was too ill to speak to the dispatcher. That could have been a life-threatening situation, says Duane Phillips, director of Emergency Communications Center in metro Nashville.
But because the man had registered with a new 911 database called Smart911 and detailed his health issues, the dispatcher knew what to do.
“Normally we handle that as an open line and send police to investigate, Phillips said. “Because he had registered with Smart911, we knew he had heart problems so we sent an ambulance and the police. It probably saved his life.”
Nashville is one of a growing number of cities and communities that have adopted the Smart911 system — a voluntary database that allows people to enter personal information, like medical conditions, number of children in a house and other data that gives dispatchers information that could prove critical when they send first-responders out on emergency calls.
Washington, D.C., last week became the most recent to adopt the system. This year, Arkansas became the first to adopt it statewide. It is now used in nearly 300 communities in 25 states, according to Todd Piett, chief product officer for Rave Mobile Safety, developers of Smart911