'Text-to-911' in emergencies now available in Lorain County

ELYRIA — Lorain County residents may now text 911 emergency dispatchers instead of calling them when calling might put them in more danger. Tracey Lopez, director of Lorain County 911, told Lorain County commissioners at their meeting Wednesday that emergency texting now is available to county residents. Lorain County is now one of 22 counties in Ohio with "Text-to-911" service. Lorain County implemented a 911 system in 1989, and the call center on Burns Road next to the campus of Lorain County Community College receives an estimated 250,000 emergency calls every year, Lopez said. 911 originally was set up on an analog, home phone-based system. Since the greater use of wireless calling — nearly 85 percent of all 911 calls are now made from cellphones — it has had to adjust to a digital-based system. The benefits of texting 911 in an emergency will go not only to those in Lorain County who are among the 34 million Americans deaf or hard of hearing or speech-impaired, but also for those who use relay services or TTY devices — also known as teletypewriters, text telephones or teleprinters. Lopez also said crime victims, victims of abuse or other violence might be putting themselves at risk of harm by making a phone call or communicating verbally in an emergency, so text-to-911 provides life-saving ways of contacting help without alerting abusers or suspects. Also, if a person is injured and can't speak to a dispatcher for that reason, they might be able to text 911 with more ease, she said. Someone texting 911 from their wireless device will need to enter the numbers "911" into the "to" field on their text message, and type a brief message such as "help needed," "assistance" or "accident" and then, importantly, their specific address or exact location before pressing "send." The system will reply with a text message reading: "You have reached Lorain County 9-1-1. If you can call 9-1-1 please do so, if not what is the address of your emergency?" Dispatchers will then get information on locations, dispatch emergency help and provide medical instructions as needed, Lopez said. The person texting 911 should then remain in contact with the dispatcher until they are told they can disconnect or until help arrives. Lopez said the National Emergency Number Association and 911 organizations nationwide encourage users to "call if you can, text if you can't." Mobile devices sending text-to-911 require a mobile number with a wireless carrier that will allow the device to send and receive text messages. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.