Starke Hospital, American Heart Association Urge Patients to Call 911 for Heart Attack, Stroke Symptoms

Don’t let COVID-19 fears prevent you from getting emergency medical care. That’s the message being shared by Starke Hospital and the American Heart Association. The heart association’s Be Certain in Uncertain Times campaign reminds residents not to hesitate to call 911 if they or someone they know experience heart attack or stroke symptoms.

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Pulaski County 911 Center’s New Equipment Almost Ready

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office’s new dispatch equipment is nearly ready. Sheriff Jeff Richwine told the county commissioners last week that the grant funding has been approved, and the CallWorks dispatch system has been put in. “We just waiting for them to come do the training,” he explained, “so with that grant, we’ll be able to get, I think, the dispatch center good for a long time.”

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Summer Safety – Temperatures Inside Cars Can Easily Exceed 100 Degrees

l00kb4ulockDuring the coming months, summer temperatures are expected to soar. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration likes to annually remind care-givers of small children to never leave a child unattended in a vehicle. They report that on a 60 degree day temperatures inside a locked car can get well above 100 degrees very quickly. On hotter days that get up into the 80s and 90s outside, temperatures in a car can be a dangerous 130 to 160 degrees within minutes. These conditions are obviously incredibly dangerous to young children who can potentially die when their bodies temperatures exceed 107 degrees. Heatstroke does not always lead to death but can also cause various other health problems such as permanent brain damage, deafness and the loss of sight.  Continue reading

LaPorte County Investigators Seeking Help After Mysterious Phone Call

 
 

The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department is investigating after receiving a mysterious phone call on Friday afternoon.

The call came in a few minutes after 4:00 p.m. from a Trac phone with no return number. According to a recording of the call, a female said she was at the Harley Davidson store in the area of County Road 300 North and US 421 and was in distress.

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Pulaski Commissioners Approve Expense For New 911 System

Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week approved the purchase of a new emergency 911 system after they learned their current system, which is about 10 years old, has been discontinued for about three years.

The new system, which will cost $144,000, will satisfy the order by the state fire marshal who told the county that they must relocate their 911 system to a new location for fire protection. A representative from a company who handles 911 systems told the commissioners that he developed a number of bullet points for a new system, because his company would be unable to renew the maintenance contract on their current system due to it being effectively obsolete.

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County Employees Working Holidays Will Receive Double Time And a Half

Sixteen jail employees attended the Starke County Commissioners meeting yesterday to have the holiday pay schedule clarified. After some discussion, it was decided that for all police, 9-1-1, EMS, and jailers, the holiday pay would be straight time, but if they worked the holiday it would be straight time plus time and a half.

Commissioner Kathy Norem, who was formerly the hospital CEO at Starke Memorial, explained that it would be similar to what they paid and why they paid the amount.

“Anybody that worked the holiday got paid time and a half, but they also, within the same pay period, got an extra day off with pay. In essence, since these guys are not taking an extra day off, that’s no different, really, than double time and a half. And in some ways its much more beneficial to us to pay them the double time and a half if they work on the holiday rather than pay them time and a half and get them an extra day off paid, because with as skeleton as that crew is, that’s going to cause someone to get overtime,” Norem explained.

Any county employee working a holiday will be paid time and a half, on top of their regular holiday pay.