Our Views: Reserve Calling 911 for Life and Death Emergencies

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About every 34 seconds, someone in America suffers a heart attack.

According to the American Heart Association, a quick response by paramedics and a swift trip to the hospital can be the difference from a minor episode to major heart damage and death.

Procedures such as angioplasty (which can open up a major heart artery in as fast as 15 minutes) and stenting are effective when quickly applied.

Bottom line: If you get treatment within one hour of a heart attack, your risk of death is cut by 50 percent.

Another area is quick responses by first responders (police, firefighters, paramedics) at fires. The National Fire Protection Association reports that someone is killed in a fire in America every 153 minutes.

A fast response to an initial report, again, can be the difference from minor smoke damage to a raging fire and possible loss of property and life. Statistics show that once a structure fire goes past eight minutes, it moves beyond the room of origin. The NFPA recommends firefighters arrive to the scene of a fire within six minutes of the original alarm.

Add assaults, robberies, car crashes and the like, and it is clear a quick response to an emergency is critical to positive outcomes.



Here in Lewis County, it appears the local 911 Dispatch was overrun by calls during the storms that have swept through Southwest Washington this past week. Flood watches, power outages and car crashes due to slick roads and driving rain likely caused numerous calls to 911.

In response, Lewis County 911 Dispatch sent out a press release asking citizens to only make calls to 911 for “life or death emergencies.”

For power outages, only call 911 if there is a safety hazard (call (360) 748-9261 to report a power outage). To reach non-emergency assistance from the county, call (360) 740-1105.

Lewis County 911 Dispatch has enough to do without answering unnecessary phone calls. Dispatch serves 10 law enforcement agencies, including the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, 20 fire departments and one private ambulance company. In 2011, it received 68,527 calls.

The heart attack and fire response statistics reveal the need for speedy service. By calling 911 when it is not life or death, you would be making it longer for the people in true distress to live through a heart attack, survive a fire, receive proper police protection and the like.