ONEIDA COUNTY, WI (WSAU) — In the wake of a violent incident with a Parkinson’s patient last week in Rhinelander, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office wants to make the public aware that they are able to put medical records on file to be able to know when individuals are not able to talk to dispatchers when they call 911.
Terri Hook, Oneida County Sheriff’s Captain, says to be documented in the system, medical paperwork must be brought into the department.
Hook said, “We wanted to make sure that the citizens knew that if they brought in medical paperwork from a doctor that explains whatever their illness was that we could make a note in our system about that so that if a call came into the 911 system we could look at that residence and know that there was somebody there with a medical issue.”
“We’ve had the ability to do it since we’ve had this records system,” she said. “We have certain alerts on different houses. Obviously, we have alerts on houses where there’s an officer safety. This would just be a medical alert that would say somebody at this house has a medical condition.”
In a press release, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office says their dispatch center receives numerous calls each day and that the more information the dispatchers can be provided with, the better.
Hook has defended the actions of sheriff’s deputies last week, saying that they did what they had to do to respond to what they believed to be an active shooter situation. Thomas Smith called 911 after experiencing shortness of breath, but couldn’t speak with the dispatcher and unintentionally signalled that there was a shooter at his home through the phone keypad.
