BY FRANK JOHNSON
I volunteer with Holy Angels in Belmont and have been associated with the nonprofit off and on since they began their mission in the 1950s. For the past 15 years or so, I have served as a boat captain, driving their clients on weekly trips on Lake Wylie in the summer months. We can get up to eight wheelchairs on the 30-foot pontoon boat and take two boats on one-hour cruises with nurses and a first mate to help out.
There have been no emergencies except we did find a snake in the battery locker one time. With that being said, we prepare for emergencies and conduct refresher training at the beginning of each season with the Gaston and Mecklenburg police, fire and EMS personnel who work close to or on Lake Wylie. During that session, I review navigation and boat handling training as I am a Coast Guard certified captain. The sheriff’s deputies and EMS folks take care of emergency procedures, and the fire departments let us know they are there to back up both. They do have a fire boat from which they can send a blast of water 100-plus yards away. It is a great demo watching them power up that hose.
This past spring during our training we discussed emergency communications. The VHF radio that emergency services have relied upon for years is losing its prominence in emergency communications. Today, there are cell and satellite phones which are mostly unrestricted by terrain, distance and wattage. However, cell phones are not always connected to a tower as we all have come to realize; and satellite phones are still very expensive. That being stated, some newer cell phones have been adding satellite capabilities without the burden of an expensive subscription. Hopefully, that should be a standard feature in the near future.
Further on in the training session, as I was explaining to the new captains how to identify their position using navigation markers if they did have to call in an emergency, one of the officers spoke up. Of course, I was a little miffed at being interrupted when showing everybody how much I knew about navigation and expounding upon my expertise, but I did allow him a moment to contribute to the conversation.
Location identification is critical in almost every emergency. This officer told us about a phone app that gives you three words to identify where you are and will provide the exact location for any emergency service linked to the app. You say the three words to the 911 operator, and they will know exactly where you are, accurate to 3 meters. Agencies in Gaston and Mecklenburg had been using it internally and successfully for a while. They found it to be very useful and uncomplicated.
To me, it sounded like just another cheap app with advertising and it was probably cumbersome to use. I loaded it up later that week just to see. It located me inside my office with three common words. I then moved to the office next to mine (about 12 feet away) and it did the same thing. I was amazed.
Every person there that day loaded the app and we will use it when necessary to summon emergency services to our location from now on. We don’t have to remember which marker we just passed, what marina is just ahead or anything except to keep everyone safe and let the clients feel the breeze blowing through their hair.
Later in the summer, Linda and I were walking on the beach with some old friends, and the lady tripped and fell, breaking her femur. The tide was rising, she was in the surf and in great pain. We could not move her without emergency services. When I called 911 here in Brunswick County, they told me to run up to a house and see what their street number was. We were on a remote section of the beach with large houses set way back from the surf. Most of these houses have names like “Sail Away” or “Peter’s Porch” and probably numbers that were not easily located. I then recalled the lesson from the officer in Belmont. I asked the dispatcher if they used What3Words and she replied in the positive. I had my phone and clicked the icon on my home page. In two seconds I had the words and gave them to the operator.
She said “Got it. Location confirmed.” She still suggested that I go up to the street and flag down the first responders when they got there — so I did just that.
As there was no beach access from the street, if they showed up, they would have had to return to an access point and return back to the remote spot where she had fallen. I looked back down to the beach and saw a pickup truck and an ATV approaching her location in the surf. Obviously, they had located her position based on What3words. I returned to the beach. They professionally loaded her on a board and set her in the bed of the truck before transporting her to a waiting ambulance at the roadside of the beach access path. They told me they were able to easily locate us thanks to the app.
When I returned home, I communicated with Sheriff Darren Campbell and he replied, “We are using What3Words, and it is great!”
As a citizen, I did not know anything about it. If Sheriff Campbell thinks it is great, perhaps more people in Iredell County should know about it too. Think about using it if you come upon a wreck on a country road, or are hiking and getting hurt or lost, or if a passenger in your car has a medical emergency. This app could save a life.
Frank Johnson lives in Iredell County.