What is E911?
Congress passed both Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act to better facilitate 911 calls to First Responders from your staff, residents, and visitors. As a senior living facility, you have a duty to comply with the law for everyone under your protection.
Hank Hunt Discusses Kari’s Murder and the Importance of E911
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These new laws govern how easily the digits 9-1-1 are dialed from your facility, whether or not you are notified of someone dialing 911 as soon as the call happens, and how your phone system and telephone carrier work in concert to tell first responders exactly where in your facility from which that call was dialed.
These laws apply to all businesses, not just senior facilities, and non-compliance carries heavy fines from both the Federal government and local municipalities. In addition, should a resident, staff, or visitor be further injured by not receiving first responder care in a timely manner, due to non-compliance, your facility would be open to million-dollar jury awards from family.
Telcom Corporation is a telecommunications consulting firm, specializing in assisting senior living facilities with their telephone and internet infrastructure. Our expertise in this area and industry will provide you with the proficiency you need to bring your facility into compliance, without huge costs and long timelines.
Kari's Law
Kari’s Law was passed by Congress in honor of Kari Hunt, who was killed in a motel room by her estranged husband in 2013. Kari’s 9-year old daughter tried to call 911 four times, but calls never went through, because the motel’s phone system required dialing “9” first to secure an outbound phone line.
The law ensures that anyone (staff, residents, visitors) using a phone attached to a business phone system can reach their local 911 Call Center when dialing 911, without having to pre-dial any digits or press any line or other buttons on their phone, except those three digits, 9-1-1. Telcom can assist you in doing compliance testing for this aspect of the law.
The law also mandates that notifications are setup to immediately alert someone on or off-site, who is likely to see or hear the notification, that a 911 call was made, and provide the exact location of the caller, which is defined by the Ray Baum Act. Telcom can assist you in setting up these notifications.
Should a situation in your facility arise, which delays care from a first responder or a routine local municipality inspection finds you non-compliant, fines and judgements can be costly. The Federal Department of Justice can levy fines of up to $10,000 per incident, plus $500 per day until the violation is corrected. Similarly, county and city fire and elevator inspectors are starting to test for compliance while on site for routine visits, and can levy additional fines at the local level. Of course, the larger cost would be for a million-dollar legal judgment should an injured person sue the facility. Finally, for staff and owners who knowingly allow non-compliance to go uncorrected, up to two years of time in Federal Prison may be dispensed as penalty!
Don’t let your facility face these extreme costs and consequences. Let Telcom assist you getting your facility compliant right away!
Ray Baum's Act
Ray Baum’s Act was passed by Congress to work in concert with Kari’s Law and it requires businesses to pre-register with their local 911 Center all of their originating telephone numbers to a specific location in their buildings, so that First Responders can locate the caller quickly and without any delay of care. An example of the exact location, on a senior living campus, would be something like this:
515-999-1111 (caller ID for Room 203)
1234 Main Street, Anytown, US
Healthcare Building
Floor 2, Room 203
Imagine a situation where your system is not setup for this level of detail, it’s 2 AM on a Sunday morning, and a staff or resident calls 911 from your phone system from behind a private closed door, and can’t call for additional help. First responders arrive at your facility with no knowledge as to which building the caller is in, what floor, wing, or room. A frantic search commences, but when the person is finally found, the first responders are too late.
The consequences are overwhelming. First, your facility could be sued for millions of dollars in damages. Second, the Public Relations nightmare could significantly damange your reputation or even shutter your facility. Third, federal and local fines could cost tens of thousands of additional dollars. And finally, if you knew that you weren’t compliant, and you didn’t do anything to correct that, the law provides for up to two years in federal prison.
The cost to correct your situation is far less than these horrible events. Let Telcom assist you in our low-cost program to bring you quickly into compliance, and train your staff to keep you there.
WARNING!
The Federal Department of Justice can levy fines of up to $10,000 per incident, plus $500 per day until the violation is corrected.
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