With Smart 9-1-1 just a few months away, Pine Bluff Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr., expressed concern Tuesday about informing people about its services.
During a meeting of the MECA (Metropolitan Emergency Communications Association) board, Redus said he was concerned about senior citizens who might not have access to computers being able to put information into the system.
Under Smart 9-1-1, city and county residents will be able to add information such as medical conditions, medications they are taking, if they have physical handicaps such as being in a wheelchair, and other information.
At a previous board meeting, MECA operations manager Melinda Elliott said Arkansas will be the first state to fully implement the program and said she was waiting on equipment for the program.
Elliott said that the system must be updated every six months or the information is purged from the system. There is also an option to indicate the information in the system has not changed but that must also be accessed every six months.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We need to put a plan in place to update the information,” Redus said.
White Hall Mayor Noel Foster, representing the 9-1-1 Administrative Board, said any such effort to update the system using public safety agencies would be a “major undertaking.”
“We’re already stretched thin in labor and commitments,” Foster said.
Redus had previously suggested that fire stations around the city could be used by people wanting to put information into the system, and Elliott also suggested that the police department use their Americorps cadets as a part of the “Are you OK program.”
Jefferson County Judge Mike Holcomb said another idea would be to talk to churches around the county about helping their members, particularly elderly members, access the system.
“It’s going to be a good system and the state is paying for it,” Elliott said.