CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Cherokee County EMS discovered a glitch in its computer system that could delay the arrival of paramedics.
When a call for help comes into the county’s 911 center, the caller’s address pops up on the dispatcher’s computer screen. That information is then relayed to a terminal inside the rescue truck. Last week for an emergency in Canton, it didn’t work.
"It didn't show the street. That was part of the glitch. The information was not getting from the 911 center out to the trucks,” EMS Chief Daniel West said.
Fred Aley, 73, suffered a stroke inside his home on Windy Ridge Lane. His wife called 911 twice.
"I asked them, 'Why did it take you guys so long to get here?' They said, 'We got lost,'” Aley said.
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Aley lives in a subdivision that is still under construction. The county’s computer mapping system had the data for the street he lives on, but the paramedics didn’t. That’s why it took longer to find Aley’s house.
Officials say they have located the problem and fixed it. When new addresses are loaded into the system, they will be spot checked to make sure both the 911 center and the rescue trucks have the same data.
West says it’s an issue that emergency services in every county have to deal with. He says it can be an even bigger problem for smaller county governments.
"They still rely on the old map books, the atlas, and Google maps. So it could take a year or so for the maps to be updated. So it's a chronic issue, not just with Cherokee County. I'd say it's a global issue,” West said.
Cherokee County’s computer mapping system is updated on a weekly basis.
Cox Media Group
