Safety first in North English

NORTH ENGLISH — The Marengo City Council and Iowa County Board of Supervisors have both recently been asked to consider installing Knox Boxes at certain properties.

North English is ahead of the game. The small town in southern Iowa County has been using the rapid entry system for about 15 years, said Mayor Dan Strohman last week.

The Knox Rapid Access Solutions has been trusted by fire and law enforcement agencies for more than 40 years, according to the company’s website.

The small key holders give emergency personal access to secure buildings such as schools, homes and commercial properties to minimize property damage and injury to responders.

North English has about 24 Knox boxes at the moment, said Strohman. The town has many residents who have alert systems in case of falls or health emergencies, but if they are unable to get to the door to unlock it, emergency personnel has to break in the door.

With Knox boxes affixed to the buildings, quick response teams and firefighters have access to keys to the properties, said Strohman.

A master key fits all the Knox Boxes, and that key is kept secure, Strohman said. Whoever takes the 911 call will have access to the key.

“It’s heavy,” said Strohman of a Knox Box. “It’d take a lot of work to get into it.”

North English started the program because it had a fire at an unoccupied building and had to break in, said Strohman.

Residential Knox Boxes cost about $300 with shipping. The fire department sells them for cost and installs them, Strohman said.

Often the residential boxes are purchased by grown children concerned for the safety of their older parents, Strohman said.

“It’s convenient for us,” Strohman said. Firefighters don’t have to track down keyholders, rouse people in medical distress or break down doors when a Knox Box is available.

“It saves us a lot of time.”

Any building that has a Knox Box will have a red sticker in a lower corner of the door to alert emergency workers to look for the box.

The nursing home is staffed at all times, so it doesn’t need a box, said Strohman. But the apartment complex for senior citizens has one.

The English Valleys History Center has one as well. Firefighters can get into the building quickly in the event of fire without having to wait for someone with a key to drive in.

“As a first responder, they’re a godsend,” Strohman said.

Anyone who would like to purchase a Knox Box may call Strohman at 319-664-3724.

AED

  Buy Photo

The city also recently installed an automated external defibrillator outside its city hall for emergency use.

The AED was purchased with a Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant awarded to the Iowa County Health Department and Iowa County Emergency Managment.

The grant allowed Public Health and EMS to purchase a total of eight of the devices, said Lorinda Sheeler, director of Iowa County Public Health.

Williamsburg now has two. The Cities of Victor and Marengo will each receive one, and Iowa County’s Gateway Park in Marengo and Lake Iowa Campground will get the final three.

The device is designed to analyze the heart rhythm and deliver an electric shock to people in cardiac arrest to restore the heart’s rhythm to normal.

Anyone in an emergency situation can call 911 from that location to receive a code that opens the door to the AED box.

The device has step-by-step instructions for use, said Strohman.

The box also has a stop-the-bleed kit inside.

“It’s got electricity to it. It’s heated,” Strohman said.

“We don’t want them to get too hot. We don’t want them to get too cold,” Sheeler said.

The grant paid for supplies, but each city and county has to install the devices and pay for electricity to the box.

Vicki Oswald, director for North English First Responders, said the AED outside city hall was mounted May 20.

Oswald said that Evan Welsh, director of Williamsburg First Responders, contacted North English to see if the town wanted a community AED.

“Someone local had to be willing to pay for putting it up and pay for the electricity,” Oswald said. The North English City Council agreed to the terms.

Public Health plans to eventually put Narcon in the box to counter possible opioid overdoses, said Oswald.

Johnson County has a lot of AEDs, said Oswald. Amana has two. A dispatcher can tell a 911 caller where the nearest box is located.

The AEDs, stop the bleed kits and opioid medication are meant to provide aid while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, said Sheeler.