Reperesentatives of Luzerne County's 911 Center/Mental Retardation Program outline "Special People in Need of 911 Services", which Assists Developmentally Disabled Luzerne County Residents and their Families during Emergencies, at Association of Professional Communications Officers Conference in Baltimore, Maryland

(Baltimore, MD) - The Association  of Professional Communications Officers recently invited Luzerne County to present the template for it's SPIN 911 program to an audience of emergency communications officers at its national convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Gina Galli, director of Luzerne County's Mental Retardation Unit outlined how the SPIN 911 program was conceived and developed.  Phil Veet and Liz Linskey of the Luzerne County 911 center presented the technical aspects of adding SPIN 911 information to Luzerne County's 911 system, and how first responders are trained to accomodate it.  The SPIN 911 program is a voluntary program offered to families of developmentally disabled Luzerne County residents.  Families provide important information about the client, family, and household, which is then entered into the 911 database.  Should there be an emergency at the client household, pertinent SPIN 911 information is then relayed to first responders to the scene.

  Luzerne County participants at the Association of Professional Communications Officers National Conference were John Ankenbrand, Luzerne County Public Safety; Gina Galli, Luzerne County MR Unit; Liz Linsky, Luzerne County 911 Center; Phil Veet, Luzerne County 911 Center; and Fred Rosencrans, Luzerne County Public Safety.