The Decatur Minute

November hosts a number of health awareness campaigns, including: National Epilepsy Awareness Month, National Diabetes Month and National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. At the same time, it’s National Family Caregivers Month, and each year more and more Americans are caring for loved ones with chronic conditions, disabilities or health issues related to old age. With this in mind, the city is encouraging family caregivers to take advantage of Smart911, a service that brings a new level of support and peace-of-mind to those with such conditions and the family members who provide assistance.

Smart911 allows individuals and family caregivers to create a free, private and secure Safety Profile at www.smart911.com, which can include any information they want 9-1-1 to have in the event of an emergency. The profile is then delivered automatically to the 9-1-1call-taker when an emergency call is made. Details in a Safety Profile allow 9-1-1 to have a better understanding of a situation and can be passed on to emergency response teams in the field to help support fast, precise action.

A Safety Profile can include such things as medical notes that enable emergency responders to approach and treat a person with Alzheimer’s, epilepsy or diabetes properly and quickly; a particularly useful feature if the person cannot communicate, is suffering a seizure or is confused. Information can also include family caregiver emergency contact details. Should someone with Alzheimer’s dial 9-1-1 and be unable to recall personal details, the Safety Profile can provide a name and exact address. If they wander away from home and a family caregiver dials 9-1-1 from a phone number included in the profile, a photo can be immediately distributed to emergency responders to expedite a search.

For more information about Smart911 and how we’re using it in the City of Decatur, contact Fire Chief Toni Washington at toni.washington@decaturga.com or 404.373.5092.