Sheriff Stovall Proving to be a Progressive Sheriff

reprinted from the March 5 Texarkana Gazette

County gets Smart911 service

Public can create medical profile online; area among first users in U.S.

By Lareign Ward ,Texarkana Gazette

Miller County Sheriff’s Office recently activated the Smart911 service that allows residents to create a profile to assist emergency responders.
Last year, Arkansas announced plans to become the first state to offer the Smart911 service to all its residents, and MCSO is one of the first agencies in the Natural State to get the service up and running, said Vanessa Schaeffer, communications supervisor for the sheriff’s office.
“I just think the most important part of it is we can know your medical information right off,” Schaeffer said Monday. “We can alert the responding paramedics, the hospital (about) what we’ve got going on before they ever get there.”
The 50,000-plus residents of Miller County can now create a profile by going online to smart911.com. From that Website, they can input their address, medical conditions, allergies, disabilities and more. Schaeffer said they can even post photos of themselves and family members, including pets who would need to be rescued if there’s a fire.
More than one number can be connected to an address, too. Schaeffer said if anyone from her household calls 911 in an area with active Smart911 service, profiles for her, her husband and their three daughters would be accessible to emergency personnel.
Smart911 allows people to include directions to their residence in their profile, which Schaeffer said is especially helpful in an age where more people are dropping landline service and using cellphones only.
“Cellphones, when they call 911, it shows up as a tower, so I have to spend 15 to 20 minutes tracing you to find out where you are if you need help and you can’t tell me that you’re at home,” Schaeffer said.
“If you’re not at home, I still have to trace you, but I still will have all your medical information, emergency contact information, that sort of thing.”
Schaeffer said Smart911 includes a text message feature for certain emergencies.
“Say someone was in your home (and) you couldn’t talk to me,” she said. “Once you call, we can text message back and forth (or) another person can text with emergency services. We prefer to be able to communicate with you verbally, (but) we do have that option for anybody that can’t.”
The database is secure and not available to the general public, Schaeffer said.
“The only person that ever sees this information is the 911 dipsatcher if you call in,” she said. “It’s not a searchable site.”