Lakeside Will Help in Event of Status Zero

Effingham County 911 Board members heard Tuesday that Lakeside EMS would be willing to help in the event of a lack of ambulances in the county.

Effingham Fire Chief Bob Tutko told the 911 Board that Lakeside had sent him and Police Chief Jason McFarland letters indicating their willingness to help in the event of a Status Zero. A Status Zero is a situation when a call comes in and other ambulance units are busy. Members of the Effingham County Ambulance Oversight Committee have heard that Status Zero situations have occurred on occasion. 

The consensus of the 911 Board was that it's a good situation if Lakeside is available. Abbott EMS has a backup agreement with Jasper County Ambulance Service in case all Abbott units are being utilized, but Lakeside is closer to most of Effingham County.

Lakeside and Effingham County have been involved in a lawsuit since 2018, but Tutko said Lakeside has indicated that, regardless, they would be available as a backup for 911 calls.

Also Tuesday, 911 board members heard that a switch to a new server for the system has been achieved, despite a few hiccups that have now been resolved. There was also information shared that the batteries went down on county fire frequencies, and that Teutopolis handled a fire call during the two-hour period when that occurred. However, 911 System Administrator Tina Daniels said the I Am Responding system being utilized by most departments operated correctly, so firefighters got the call and handled the fire.