Pillager Man Working To Find Quicker Ways for Disabled People to Contact 911

John Gendron is a 47-year-old Pillager resident living with cerebral palsy. John doesn’t have the ability to walk or speak in the conventional way; to communicate, he uses a speech-converter program which he controls by using his eyes.

Now, he’s working with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office to try and find a quicker, easier way for local law enforcement and first responders to respond to emergency situations for people with disabilities.

“I am trying to find a way to text the police in an event of an emergency,” Gendron told Lakeland News. “They don’t have a way for people like me to text them.”

Right now, Gendron is unable to contact 911 in case of an emergency, and he and law enforcement are trying to find a solution to this problem.

“It’s wonderful to be able to find technology that will allow him to be able to do it himself instead of contacting someone a long ways away [by] texting,” said John’s father, Mark Gendron. “If he could have a direct contact to a law enforcement agency, he could connect to them instead of somebody else who, in turn, would have to contact them. It would save time in an event that something needed to be done right away.”

One of the main issues is being in a rural area, where response times are usually longer and could be the difference in saving lives.

“I was actually really excited,” said Cass County Sheriff Bryan Welk on having the Gendrons work with the department. “They reached out with an email and explained their situation here and how it integrates with our 911 system. Sometimes with all of the back and forth that they have to do, it could be an hour by the time they get someone here. [In] rural counties like Cass County, time is our enemy. We have to limit as much as we can.”

John and Mark are grateful that they have law enforcement that is being proactive in the community.

“Just thankful that our law enforcement in Cass County and others are interested in helping John so he can have that availability at his access if he needed to contact someone in an emergency situation,” said Mark.

John added that it means a lot to see law enforcement that cares. “Overwhelmingly for the better.”

Nearby law enforcement will continue to monitor and update the situation until they find a way for john and members in the community with disabilities to contact first responders.