Aug 06, 2009 12:50 AM
Cell Phone Safety and Children
Oscar Smith, CISM Chaplain
All Rights Reserved 8/2009
Well over a third of the 20 million American preteen children between the ages of 8-12 already have a cell phone. As a Chaplain it can be disturbing to see parents arming their children without proper instruction on how to use them. There is a study that I just read by NPS based on more than 110,000 interviews with prepaid and other cell phone users who were asked about emergency/safety use of wireless phones.
The findings are that a big share of 911emergency calls are being placed by children who need to be taught that these phones are not toys but tools. Nearly a quarter of a million calls are made daily. My advocacy is to
Help encourage parents to fully explain that placing an emergency call will bring a police officer, firefighter or EMT to the scene. My book “Quick Fire is Faster Than a Fire Truck” makes several recommendations for enhanced safety for children with cell phones.
1.Pre –program your child’s cell phone with all important phone numbers—including your home, office, workplace, and your own personal cell numbers. Do not forget to program in other key contacts like grandparents and neighbors.
2.Teach them to push 911 and then the send button. In an emergency children forget to push send, it would not hurt to practice this.
3. Instruct your child to remain on the line after placing a 911 call and to be prepared to describe their location as well as they can to the Operator.
4.Make sure that your children understand the need to always have their cell phone on when away from home. You need to TEST this often and do not accept any excuses!
The other important piece of information that I want to share is the fact that over $200 million dollars collected from cell phone users is to go towards upgrades to the 911 system. Cell phone subscribers in nearly every state pay anywhere from 20 cents to $1.50 a month towards 911 improvements according to a detailed study by the Associated Press. Most states are hard pressed by the economic times and are having difficulty keeping with the spirit of the intended use of these funds.
Emergency telecommunications makes the task more efficient when we as citizens have need of these services and these funds greatly helps dispatchers and responders to do their jobs in a timely fashion.
Just to reflect briefly about the loss this year of my Mother in law who was the victim in my opinion of a series of delayed responses and the lack of professionalism of the operator and dispatcher who received the frantic calls from her home. She deserved the opportunity of having first responders at her home in a timely fashion.
We still have family members in the Paxton, Illinois community and
it is our prayer that others are not victims of inadequate emergency response systems. This is very tough on families to live with the reality that the fight is not so much with the emergency at hand but the real fight is with time!
Upgrading call centers to handle text and video messaging requires in many cases new computer systems, staff training and clear professional communication between the caller and the operator. There should never be instances where emergency personnel are sent to wrong locations and equipment not working properly when EMT shows up.
In Loving Memory I write and dedicate this outreach on behalf of Jan Olmstead my wife Marsha’s Mother .She would have wanted me to advocate for Cell Phone Safety for Children and a more Efficient 911 System here in America.
