The city of New Orleans is shaking up emergency response for its residents -- and it's much needed at this time, as mid-August to September usually marks the height of the city's hurricane season.  Individuals in New Orleans who are elderly, have physical or mental disabilities, or specific medical needs can now utilize Smart911, a new emergency response system recently implemented by the city that allows people to provide additional information for first responders, so they can receive help that is specific to their needs in an emergency situation.  Tyrell Morris, Executive Director at the Orleans Parish Communication District, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.

Closing Bell

New Orleans Implements New Emergency Response System Smart911 For Hurricane Season

the city of New Orleans shaking up emergency response for its own residents and its much needed at this time. Mid august to september marking the height of the city's hurricane season. And individuals who are elderly have physical or mental disabilities or specific medical needs do have an in Increased risk. So they may need extra help in these emergencies. And New Orleans has implemented a new system called Smart 911. It allows people to provide additional information for first responders so that they can receive help that is specific to their needs in case of an emergency joining me. Now is Tyrell Morris, executive director at the new at the Orleans Parish Communication District and the administrative office of 911 for the city of New Orleans. Tyrell thank you so much for coming on this show. Tell me more about what this offering provides some of your community. Absolutely. So in addition to New Orleans being the events capital of the world, we also know that we are a community that's at particular risk of tropical weather and then what we learned last year during hurricane ida is that our residents had very specific needs and we needed a place where they can give us that information so we can better align ourselves to meet their needs during the emergency. So smart 911 is a national platform that anyone in the nation can sign up and create a family household profile. You give us information about vehicles, pets, medications, um any kind of intellectual disabilities. Um it's someone that may have mental health needs. And so we do have an emergency. We're able to look for people that meet certain criteria and ensure that they receive help and that's during times of emergency. But on your standard 911 call if you have a Smart 91 profile were able to pass that critical information to medical providers and fire department personnel in the event they respond to your home for an emergency but it's just not for new Orleanians. Every year. This city we welcomes and protects 18 million visitors a year. So if you are from traveling to our city, if you create a smart 911 profile in the unlikely event that you do have an emergency and you call 911 in our city. That information will be made available to us as well. Even if you don't live in the city of New Orleans. Okay. That's really helpful to know Tyrell, what is the response time someone calls in the case of an emergency? How quickly can they expect a response? Well responses you know can vary based upon what the emergency is. Our call takers are are incredibly trained and certified to process called triage and assign it a certain priority and ensure that we dispatch the most appropriate response. And that is the end goal with more information. We can ensure we send the appropriate response if we know early on that you may have pets in your home. And we respond to your house for a house fire. The fire department knows okay I know there's pets here. Let me get a good account um to make sure we've gotten them all out. And so it allows us to ensure that the response that we do send is much more comprehensive. It's well informed um and it meets the people where they are on the ground. Does this come at a cost to consumers Tyrell or is it free? It's absolutely free of cost. Of course it comes at a cost to the agency. But our role in government is to bring innovative technology to the people that live work and play here in the city of New Orleans. And so we've done that. Um and so it is absolutely free for the general public to create a smart non own profile. Um And we we look forward to seeing these lifesaving innovations and technology really have an how well we respond to emergencies on the ground. Look, I think many of our viewers Tyrell have seen the devastating images come from New Orleans over the past years and decades. Just in terms of the severe storms, the hurricanes, the surges, people have been displaced ill, stuck, stranded. You name it because of that. What is the city expecting this hurricane season? I think the National Weather Service has produced its prediction about you know, tropical weather being an above average season similar to what we saw last year. Um And so the city is preparing for that. We we feel as though we are incredibly prepared to respond whatever comes our way. We've done that consistently in the last couple of years. Um I'm truly tested the city's strength. Um I believe that we were incredibly resilient. We were intentional on a response. Um and the residents absolutely felt that their government was boots on the ground with them today. And in terms Tyrell of the services that are expanding into our their growth plans down the road. What you're doing right now obviously is of critical nature. But do you plan to grow the app and the capabilities for users? I think every 91 center in the nation right now is finding ways to use data to make informed decisions as we see a reduction in police officers available paramedics uh and fire department personnel on the ground. We have to really ensure that we are sending the most appropriate resource to the emergency when it happens. And we know we can fine tune our response with the more data we have available. So every 91 center in the nation as we upgrade our sin systems to bring video to 911 picture to 911 smartwatch technology to 911 and artificial intelligence to 911. Now we have a way to get basic household information in the hands of first responders who have a much more informed comprehensive response. Alright, Tyrell Morris, Executive Director at Orleans Parish Communication District, Tyrell, thank you so much for coming on and the good work that you're doing.