Saturday, March 26, 2005

Red light problem...
ron thomas


Last night John & Mary Spangler's red light went off. Their neighbors the Kalar's saw it and called the paramedics. John and Mary live next door to the Furgason's and Bob Abbott on NE56th st.


Here is what happened... Their red light went off a little before 2:00am. There was no reason for it to have activated. John said the transceiver was in a kitchen drawer which would make the light non operational. Theroretically a neighbor could have set it off but his neighbors don't use the code that he has. That leaves me with kind of a, "I don't know how that happened"... Kind of explanation. This has happened one other time in the last three years and we don't know what caused either one.


Marilyn Kalar saw the light. She lives on the hill overlooking the Spangler home. She called 911 and reported it. Soon the paramedics came to the park but took a wrong turn on Evergreen. Marylin jumped in her car and ran after them finally, catching up to them over by the Rose's and Hart's homes and told them they were in the wrong place.


The paramedics then ended up over at John and Mary's home where they banged on the door. John roused out of sleep went to the door where the paramedic stood with defibulator and medical equipment and said , "We're here"... John said that he could see that but did they know where they were?... Then is when John finds out about the red light flashing. The paramedics return to the barn and John is trying to get the red light out. Can't get it out because the switch has reprogrammed itself. So he puts a plastic bucket over the light (it's raining cats and dogs all the while) But the red light blasts right through the bucket. Next a garbage bag over it. Still can see it. Finally John puts a towel and 2 garbage bags over the light and peace returns to the neighborhood.


Fast Forward to the Easter Brunch this morning ... We get the story of what happened so when we get home I call John and Mary and offer to kill the monster. We fixed it soon after we got there.



To the good side:
  • The light was seen and reported by a neighbor.
  • The paramedics found the house eventually.
  • The neighbor watched for the paramedics and steered them to the right home.
To the bad side:
  • The light went off by itself.. With no reason that we can see why.
  • It could not be turned off.
  • Paramedics responded unnecessarily.
  • Paramedics did not know where to go and had to be chased down.
Herein lies some interesting questions about how we view the red light emergency system.
  • Should 911 be called first if a red light is seen?
  • Should the person reporting a red light keep a watch out and make sure the paramedics get to the right spot?
  • If a light can't be turned off ... 99% of the time it has to do with the keychain remote switch having been deprogrammed by the user holding the button down too long. A good reason to come to Mondays Seminar on how to fix your red light.
  • Paramedics are not familiar with our communities numbering and street system. I've been thinking we could change that with a little effort at City Hall by giving our streets and courts different names.
  • Should we have a group of volunteers that are so familiar with the red light that they can be called to take care of problems like this? How do we get these people?


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