When dispatchers at the Cambria County 911 center answer your call, they need all the information they can get to send first responders your way.

 

“We want the people who work with our children, the first responders to understand the situation so that they’re not coming into something that could be dangerous not only to them but also to our loved ones,” said Shelley Lill, a found of the Mainline Area Special Needs Support Group.

 

Lill’s son, Thomas, has special needs, and a ride in the ambulance isn’t a rarity for their family, but remembering to tell all of the medications Thomas is on to first responders can be tricky. 

 

“Our son is non-verbal, he cannot see and he cannot hear,” Lill said. “He has special medical issues that need to be addressed and in the case that we cannot be there, whether that be in school or if we’re the ones that are incapacitated, we need them to understand that he cannot have an MRI because he has a cochlear implant. And that would be in the system.”

 

Lill, with the Mainline Area Special Needs Support Group, helped bring the Premise Alert System to the Cambria County 9-1-1 Center.  It’s easy; just fill out and submit an online form detailing your or your loved one’s special health needs or conditions. 

 

“Whenever we enter an address into our computer system that we use to dispatch the emergency resources, a flag pops up letting us know that there is a Premise Alert entered for that address,” said 9-1-1 Coordinator Robbin Melnyk. “And then we relay that information to the emergency responders.”

 

It makes first responders’ jobs much easier, and it gives families peace of mind. 

 

“I know that if something were to happen to me or my husband that they would have an understanding before coming in and taking care of our son,” Lill said.

 

Those with Alzheimer’s, autism, or even rare medical conditions can use the form, too.  So far, both Blair and Cambria Counties operate with Premise Alert.