Lack of radio signal causes dangerous delays in summoning help

A man in the Milo area recently suffered a heart attack and died -- with the help of a public safety official less than one-half mile away that could not be summoned because he could not be reached by radio.A sheriff's deputy's only means of calling for help is the portable radio when the deputy's away from the car. The problem is that the portable radio cannot be heard by the dispatcher from many areas throughout the county. The same is true for police officers in some parts of Nevada. Even with the higher powered radios in ambulances, fire trucks and deputies cars there are places like Schell City and southwest Vernon County where they cannot reliably talk to their base. It's not a new problem. It's one that's plagued public safety officials and the victims they strive to reach with vital assistance for a long time. "This has been talked about for years," James McKenzie, Vernon County Ambulance District director, said Wednesday at the monthly Vernon County Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting. "This can be solved within 120 days and cost about $70,000 to do," McKenzie said. To find a solution, the Ambulance District hired a consultant to conduct a survey of Vernon County to determine what could be done to solve the problem. Richard Bell, a communication consultant from Columbia, told the committee that placing a repeater on an old microwave tower near Walker and a secondary receiver near Bronaugh would provide reliable communications from handheld radios in locations comprising 90 percent of the county. The repeater would be able to receive the signals from the handheld radios and retransmit them. Currently the ability to do this does not exist in 60 to 70 percent of the county, Bell said. "This can be the difference between life and death," he said. The repeater would function as a communications backbone for the entire county that could be used by all of the emergency services agencies and would allow the ambulance personnel to talk to the Nevada Regional Medical Center emergency room to receive medical guidance as well, Holly Bush, NRMC, told the committee. "We're going to move ahead with this," McKenzie said. "I would like to see this in operation by spring," he said. In other business, the LEPC finalized plans for the annual disaster drill which will take place Wednesday, Sept. 24. across the street from NRMC, on Adams Street. The drill is scheduled to begin about 6 p.m. and will be used to provide an opportunity for NRMC and the Nevada Fire Department to learn to use portable chemical decontamination units. To prepare for the exercise, Bill Gillette, Nevada fire chief, said that the fire department would be having training session Monday and Tuesday on using their decontamination unit. Bush said that the hospital emergency room personnel would receive 16 hours of hazardous material training before the drill so they will know how to provide the proper treatment for victims of chemical contamination.