‘@ 9 The Dalias Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, September 17, 1997 7 Lehman (continued from page 1) with the BMCC. This is strictly economics,” he said. The supervisors, police, fire department and ambulance com- pany met with representatives from ‘the ‘Luzerne County Commissioner's office and Luzerne County Emergency Sys- tems two weeks ago to put their minds at ease and have some of their questions answered. “They answered every question we had,” said Sutton, who be- lieves their answers were consis- tent with the ones he heard more than, two years ago when the county first approached the Back Mountain with a new 911 system. “They gave us as much time as we wanted. I was impressed.” The county asked the board to submit a written copy of all their questions sc they may then send the board a written copy of their answers in return to be put on record. Sutton said, Howard Kocher, police chief, was satisfied with most of the answers to his ques- tions. Sutton could not comment on the fire and ambulance com- panies’ views on the possible switch. “If what they (the county) say is true, we're going,” said Sutton. Sign language POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK Signs have a language all their own, especially when they're placed near one another. A motorist entering Kingston Twp. on Pioneer Ave. could be forgiven for wondering what the asking price is. ~ Township manager Jeff Box assures us the township is not for sale. 911 (continued from page 1) smaller than a county given the designation. It it wins the suit, the local comm center hopes to recover the money already collected from charges on Back Mountain phone lines, which could be used to up- grade equipment to meet state recommendations. Another option is for the BMCC to become a “secondary center” that calls are referred to. In Berks County, all 911 calls go to a main center, but three areas within the county have their own dispatch- ing centers. As soon as it is deter- mined a call is from one of those areas, it is transferred to an op- erator in the secondary location, along with computer screen full of information. The secondary cen- ter then dispatches appropriate emergency personnel. : - JeffBox, secretary of the BMCC, said there are several reasons such an arrangement wasn’t in the cards here. First, he said, the county's 911 plan would not guar- antee the local center's existence after three years. Also, while the county would have provided some equipment, the BMCC would still have borne most of the expenses. And BMCC directors weren't confident the county wouldn't ask for more money later on. “It is our fear they will ask for the munici- palities to contribute,” Box said. “If we're going to pay at some point, why not pay for what we're doing now?” That's what has happened in Schuylkill County. John Mercuri, director of the county communi- cations center, said the $1.25 monthly phone line charges don't cover all the center's costs, and they must get funds either from municipal contributions or the county general fund. Berks County would appear to have the best of both worlds. Bill Rehr, who serves part-time as the county 911 coordinator while holding down the position of chief of the Reading Fire Department, said there have been no problems with a system that has three sec- ondary centers. “It’s a real simple thing to do,” he said. “It works great.” Emer- gency calls for the Reading police department and ambulance ser- vice, and for the Boyertown area, are answered at the county cen- ter, then transferred to those cen- ters for dispatching. Rehr said the county system receives 97¢ per phone line and could operate on as little as 60¢. The difference is saved and ear- marked to be used to upgrade equipment. ] The original plan filed with the state called for six secondary cen- ters in Luzerne County, said Ron Rome, intergovernmental coordi- nator. But when they saw how much it would cost, all of them except Hazleton dropped out. State regulations require equip- ment and staffing at higher levels than the potential secondary cen- ters maintain. Kingston Borough has since entered into an agree- ment with the county to be a non- emergency dispatching center. - # y MSRETRENTRESININITITAS EIEN GUIIMURE Member FDIC *) First National Community Bank just : : “ made affording a home a lot easier. For a Visit our web site @ http:/www.fncb.com . limited time we are offering a 15 year fixed rate . mortgage at 7.25% APR* with no points. Stop by any Call Mortgage Link 1-888-700-FNCB oe of our seven convenient locations and make your 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week To Pre-qualify . dream home a reality. : Dunmore 346-7667 / Scranton 343-6572 / Dickson City 489-8617 / Fashion Mall 348-4880 . Pittston Plaza 655-FNCB(3622) / Wilkes-Barre 831-1000 / Kingston 283-FNCB(3622) ‘banks 15 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Getting your mortgage atour pointless. % *Qffer available on mortgages up to $214,600 Loans with less than 20% down payment require PMI. Rates are in effect as of date of publication and may change without notice. APR/Annual Percentage Rate. An example of monthly payment terms per $1,000 borrowed would be 180 payments of $9.13 for 15 years fixed rate. Rate quoted for owner occupied 1-4 family residence, financing for purchase and/or refinance. Construction financing available at different rates and terms. Annual Percentage Rate(APR) assumes first payment Thirty(30) days from date of closing. FIRST NATIONAL COMMUNITY BANK Points W Centers (continued from page 1) resident dials 911 the call is handled one of three ways. Medi- cal emergencies are kept on the line, since county dispatchers are trained in Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) and cannot hand off a call to someone who is not. A fire or police call is transferred directly to the Schuylkill Haven center for dispatching. Non-emer- gency callers are simply given the proper phone number to call di- rectly. Jay Willard, borough manager, said the borough’s solicitor ad- vised them not to challenge the $1.25 per month phone line charge residents must pay. Berger, the public works direc- tor, said the borough held public meetings to talk about joining the county system, and members of fire and ambulance companies dominated the sessions. He felt more people would have been for the plan but were intimidated by the local emergency personnel. But Willard said a recent sur- vey showed a majority of support for staying independent. Schuylkill Haven spends about $146,000 per year to operate its center, which is staffed 24 hours. The Schuylkill County system, meanwhile, can’t live on the $1.25 per phone line monthly charge. John Mercuri, the county’s direc- tor of communications, said funds must be added from municipal contributions or the county gen- eral fund. And he agreed that non-emergency calls may be de- layed. “When 911 calls are busy, we don’t answer administrative calls,” he said, although at other times dispatchers handle barking dog calls and similar non-emergen- cies. : “You're going to get better com- munity service from a smaller dis- patch center,” Mercuri said. “It’s a heck of alot easier to dispatch one community than a county.” One of the advantages county systems should have is access to medical and other information that appears instantly on the dispatcher’s computer screen. The information is linked to phone numbers, so as a call comes in the computer searches a database for records. But it’s not that simple, Mercuri said. “It’s very difficult to maintain records,” he said. The county sends forms out once a year for people to update their information. He said some coun- ties have resorted to hiring out- . side firms to gather the data. Qos cc ps RKC NS SC LL Rs “It’s a real simple thing to do this way. ntworks great.” ~~ BillRer Berks County 911 coordinator The best of both worlds? Berks County was one of the first to institute county-wide 911, starting in 1989 before the state got involved. With no phone line surcharges to foot the bill, the county floated a bond to pay for the system, on the expectation it would be reimbursed once state legislation passed. Instead of trying to force a single system, county officials met with every emergency service in the county, and began with a system that had multiple secondary cen- ters. Three of them remain today, two in the city of Reading. All 911 calls in the county are received at the main center. Calls for the Reading police or ambu- lance departments, or for the Boyertown area, are immediately transferred to secondary centers. A computer screen filled with in- formation is also transferred di- rectly to the secondary dispatcher. “Since we collect the surcharge, we put the equipment in,” said Bill Rehr, who serves part time as the county 911 coordinator and full time as Reading's fire chief. Each secondary center has “ANI, ALY” computer screens that dis- play information about the caller, a printer and special phone lines to handle the transfers. “It's a real simple thing to do this way,” Rehr said. “It works great.” The Boyertown center is simi- lar to the Back Mountain Com- munications Center, only a little smaller. It serves four police de- partments, five municipalities, five fire departments, one ambulance service and the Salvation Army in the greater Boyertown area, which has a population of about 20,000. Jeff Bealar, chief dispatcher since 1994, said the county cen- ter confirms the information be- fore transferring the call. “They verify the location and whether it’s police, fire or ambulance,” he said. The county dispatcher will stay on the line if Emergency Medical Dispatch fis needed. Bealar: said people in‘the area have learned that 9 P1'is ‘only for emergencies, and non-emergency calls come directly into his center. Rehabilitated | and ready for life. Alfreda Bryce worried surgery for total Tree replacement would keep her from doing the things she loves, especially gardening. Thanks to the rehabilitation therapy she received at Allied Services John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Alfreda is back doing all the things she enjoyed before surgery. Her therapists helped Alfreda regain her range of motion, strength, balance, and most importantly, her independence... and her garden never looked better. One town threatened to pull out of the local system, he said, citing the cost of phone charges plus support for the Boyertown center, but public opinion was against them. ; The Boyertown center has an annual operating budget of $183,000. Bealar is trying to add more dispatchers at peak times, although he said the county will pick up any overload of calls. While he would welcome the addition of the secondary centers to the county system — “a couple of centers eventually closed,” he said — Rehr understands the ap- peal of smaller centers. “They know people by name, and that’s worth something,” he said. Besides working well, the Berks : County system uses money spar- ingly. The county still collects the 97¢ per phone line charge it started with, even though it could : apply to raise the fee to $1.25 per. month. Rehr says the system can run on 60¢ per month, and the excess is put away into a capital fund. That money will be used to upgrade equipment, which will soon allow the system to work with cellular phone calls and glo- bal positioning equipment. Perhaps the most extreme ex- ample of multiple answering points has been in Allegheny County. Marko Bourne, press sec- retary for the Pennsylvania Emer- gency Management Agency, said the county's first 911 plan had 47 answering points, and that didn’t include the city of Pittsburgh, which had its own 911 system. 3 Bourne said the county’s new scheme has only seven answering points, including in Pittsburgh. In Luzerne County, only Hazleton is left from six second- : ary centers in the county’s origi- nal proposal. Kingston Borough has agreed to be a dispatching site for non-emergency calls only, and the Back Mountain Commu- nications Center bid to remain independent will be heard in a Harrisburg courtroom Oct. 6. rehabilitation Our Dallas Clinic's team of highly trained professionals are dedicated to helping you achieve your rehabilitation goals. They will work with your referring physician to design an individualized plan to meet your specific needs. For additional information you can contact our clinic directly at (717) 674-5075 John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine “Your Best Choice!” With this area's largest rehabilitation hospital and eight outpatient clinic locations, John Heinz is "Your Best Choice" Dallas, Nanticoke, Wilkes-Barre Twp., Pittston, Forty-Fort, W. Hazelton, Berwick, Tunkhannock
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers