County Telecommunicators Recognized for Assisting Stroke Victim

Effingham County Sheriff Dave Mahon has recognized two Effingham County Sheriff's Office 911 Telecommunicators for assistance they provided a stroke victim.

On June 30 at about 1:30pm, Telecommunicator Billie Bales received a 911 call that sounded like a prank call. The call turned out to be from an elderly lady that was having a stroke in her van in the Effingham Walmart parking lot. The lady was unable to speak and her condition was so bad she was slumped over in her seat and unable to honk her horn to signal for help.

Bales plotted the lady's call from her cell phone while Telecommunicator Niki Hoffman made calls to EMS, Effingham City Police and Effingham County deputies to respond to the general area of the large parking lot to try and locate the subject.

Mahon said Bales "calmly and patiently asked numerous questions in an attempt to target the lady's vehicle. The woman was only able to respond with "u-hu" or "hunt-u". As Bales uncovered information by process of elimination, Hoffman relayed it over the radio, without needing to ask Bales questions, to the searching EMS and police. With this information, police located the lady and EMS was directed to her location.

The sheriff said the general public usually doesn't get to see the inner workings of the 911 center. He said, "We are very proud of T/C Bales' calm, intelligent demeanor and the backup teamwork provided by T/C Hoffman. Billie and Niki might just consider this part of their job, but we think it represents the outstanding work the telecommunicators do here at the sheriff's office."