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Marshall County Resident Raises Concern Over Emergency Response

A longstanding issue with getting service dispatched to certain areas of Marshall County was raised at the county commission meeting this week.

Marshall County resident John Toth told commissioners he lost his mother eight years ago after she suffered an aneurysm, and he blames slow response time by paramedics. More recently, on June 30, Toth said, a neighbor disrupted internet service to his residence by digging up a phone line.

An argument between Toth and the neighbor ensued, eventually ending in the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department being called. Toth said after giving his address and describing it as “W.Va. Route 7 over 2 on Sand Hill,” the dispatcher on the other end of the line replied, “The only Route 7 I know is in Ohio.”

“I’m already mad from my neighbor’s comments, (and) I was not very happy with this comment. It took 40 minutes and five more calls before I could talk to an officer. I’m glad it wasn’t a life-and-death situation,” Toth said.

Toth said he has not spoken before the commission in two years, after becoming tired of lack of response. With all commissioners having since been replaced, Toth said he hopes for some improvement.

“After 10 years of addresses, road changes, whatever you want to call it, this county is in poor shape. We’ve got this brand new building across the street. Well, I’m here to tell you, the people who run fire trucks and ambulances, they’re not happy because they’re being given the wrong directions,” Toth said. “How long does it take to get this done? It’s probably not going to happen in my lifetime, and I think that’s pretty sad. I realize you three commissioners were not the ones in the chairs eight years ago when I came in before, but you are there now. And whether you know it or not, your responsibility is the 911 center.”

911 director Larry Newell said the dispatchers were able to locate Toth’s home by address alone, as is the case with most residences in the county. He suspects the problem in locating Toth’s call, which was made from a cellphone, was based on the directions given, rather than a problem locating the address itself.

“When emergency calls come in, the agency that’s covering it will be dispatched as they’re talking to the person. In front of every dispatcher is the full compliment, including the most recent aerials of the county. The dispatcher is trained to use the names and addresses — saying ‘County Road 7’ is anything from the beginning of (U.S.) 250, going out to Stone Church. It can be anywhere along that whole strip. That’s why everything broke down the way it did.”

Marshall County Commission President Stan Stewart said he, as well as others involved, had reviewed the tape and had noticed several points where confusion over the address may have occurred.

“Without a doubt, everyone’s concerned with responding to the needs of any caller,” Stewart said. “We understand your concern, and it’s unfortunate that you had the delay, but I think our dispatch did the very best with what they had. We hope that in the future that some of these problems will have been resolved, not just on our end but throughout the state. When there’s an emergency, every effort will be made.”

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