911 Emergency: Are You As Safe As You Could Be?

Ok, fix it... money for public safety... public safety first... sounds good.

Unbelievable.....Richland County government not getting the job done. I can not imagine why, other than the gross incompetence that lies within county council.

Get it together people....the life that is saved from this program could very well be your own!

O'k, the person already was with first responders, Police? but it still took EMS 20 or 30 more minutes to find him. This is only partially the fault of the 911 system. Why did not the dispatcher give the same info to EMS, instead of just rerouting the call. The second half of the problem is that EMS in Richland County want to be amoung themselves. In other big cities EMS also monitors the police channels, and the police repond to EMS calls, this is so that should a call go out for EMS, the police are also dispatched, that way due to the fact that there are more police vehicles on patrol than EMS, usually the police get there first and then confirm that EMS is in route or advise EMS that they are not needed, thus preventing an unneeded response.
Richland won't do this, so therefor EMS gets different info and can't find the address or they go to a call where they are not needed and possible get tied up and an urgent call gets dispatched to another EMS unit that could result in a longer response time. Which could mean life or death for a victim. Richland get with the modern times, Sheriff and Police Departments answere EMS calls, it could mean the difference of life or death to a person in need.

This was a terrible accident and I responded to the scene to pick up my fiance, Jim Rion. If it were not for seat belts, air bags and great vehicle engineering, he could have easily been in a life threatening situation. It is a shame that Richland County does not have this technology. We all pay these surcharges on our cell phone bills and we should demand nothing less. It could mean life or death in many situations.

i know where the ambulnace is...they are always at my work, loading up on food. they come in a cut their radios off, and sit down and eat!!!!!!

This is really sad that Richland County does not have this technology. With the money they get from the surcharges we all pay on our cell phone bills, this should have been in place a long time ago. If Kershaw County can afford it, then I would think the County of the States capital could. Come on guys get on the ball with this.

This is serious especially for people who still have out of state number and are always roaming on another carrier. They need to have this fixed and taken care of promptly

I think Mike Byrd, director of RCEMS has been a joke, the Richland County citizens have not gotten for years. He also serves as the county fire marshall and can be found as the one who is toting a handgun on an everyday basis. Why does being an ambulance director or firemarshall give you the right to carry a handgun? Hmm He does everyday.

If he is carrying a gun then he needs to make sure he has a reason for it. If not file a complaint with the Sheriff's Department

The reason Richland County isn't phase 2 is because Mike Byrd is taking that $58,000 and spending it on ambulances and motorcycles and other EMS equipment instead of 911. He does the same thing with the 911 tarriff money that is collected from the landlines. So if WLTX wants a real story they should investigate Mike Bryd and what he is doing with the money. They would be very enlightened as to why Richland County is so far behind.

Richland County EMS is a shadow of its former self.They used to be well known nationwide for being a progressive system.What is 240-Byrd up to these days?

As I read some of the comments about Richland County it sickens me to know that my sister was involved in a hit and run in Lexington County and 911 told her she would have to wait until they could get to her because of 61 other accidents on I26. At least the Richland County Deputies dont pass by when someone is on the side of the road like 10 Lexington County Deputies did when my sister needed assistance and that was after 5 911 calls from her cell phone in Lexington County. Alot of the errors are the 911 dispatchers not doing their job correctly.

1134 Anonymous wrote:

<quoted text>If they don't have any deputies to send, they don't have any deputies to send do they? Did you want that 911 operator to get in a cop car and come to your sisters aid? If you need help and see a deputy coming, why not flag him down? He/She (<---see, Lib is rubbing off on me) was probably on call. EVERY time I have been on the side of the road and a Lexington County deputy has passed, they have stopped. I too was involved in a hit and run, I called 911 and it was New Years eve and the Highway Patrol were busy with 900 other drunk and driving caused wrecks, but then I spotted a Highway Patrol vehicle, flagged him down and he actually caught the guy who hit me. You've got to take some responsibility for yourself and not rely on everyone else. Also, even if Lexington County 911 took the call, highway patrol handles car accidents, so it wasn't LCSD 's fault, the operator was telling your sister the truth.

Im sure if my sister could have gotten out to flag the officers down she would have. When her son found where she was he got an ambulance to her and she had to have emergency brain surgery. It shouldn't take 3 hours to get someone out there. Sounds like you must be an officer or one of the idiots who handles 911.

As I read some of the comments about Richland County it sickens me to know that my sister was involved in a hit and run in Lexington County and 911 told her she would have to wait until they could get to her because of 61 other accidents on I26. At least the Richland County Deputies dont pass by when someone is on the side of the road like 10 Lexington County Deputies did when my sister needed assistance and that was after 5 911 calls from her cell phone in Lexington County. Alot of the errors are the 911 dispatchers not doing their job correctly.

You're missing the entire point of the story...Always looking for someone to blame. If you want do blame someone don't blame 911 or lexington county. Blame The people that get the money that aren't spending on whats its meant to be spent on. If it was spent correctly then 911 could do their job effectively. So quit blaming 911 for everything. Its not their fault

Richland County is so political and they feel that THEY alone are the only REAL EMS entity in existance....Richland County has excellent Paramedics and EMT's ...it's not the field medics but the Management thats to blame for all of the bad press....MICHAEL BYRD!!