During the nearly two-week telecommunications outage in San Juan County in November of 2013, two tragic situations occurred because first responders could not help the most vulnerable in their time of need.

With no 911 service available and the life alert systems not working, the only way for first responders to make sure people were ok was to go door to door.

A bill to ensure the location of life alert subscribers will be provided to emergency personnel in a time of crisis received unanimous support in the Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 5346, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, goes into specific detail in order to fully ensure the protection and privacy of life alert customers during and after the emergency situation.

“This is about public safety and making absolutely sure our first responders have access to the critical information they need to do their job in a time of crisis,” Ranker said. “This is one more protection in place for our most vulnerable if and when another outage occurs.”

During the outage, fire department officials requested locations of life alert customers recognizing that these individuals would be most likely in need of assistance. Unfortunately, internal rules prevented the companies from revealing the locations of their subscribers and two people who had been in serious need of medical attention went without help.  One of these individuals was unable to move for two full days and tragically, the other passed away later at a hospital.

To protect citizens and companies providing these critical services, life alert customer information is confidential and may only be used by first responders in responding to the emergency that prompted the information request. Any first responder receiving the information must destroy it at the end of the emergency and give written notification of such destruction to the company.

Life alert services allow persons in need of emergency assistance to contact a call center through the activation of a wearable device, such as a pendant or bracelet.

The bill now awaits action from the House of Representatives.