WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — The Richland County Sheriff’s Office received a $5,000 grant Thursday for its involvement in saving an elderly woman’s life in late July.
Julie Kissel was home alone when she went outside long enough to get stung by a hornet. Immediately, she noticed her body reacting to the sting.
“I was woozy,” she said, remembering the day for those gathered at her home on Lexwood Road in Mansfield. “I wanted to go to the office (her husband’s accounting firm) so I went out to the car, but I was too weak.”
She said she went inside to call her husband, Ray, when she collapsed. She couldn’t move.
“I never really thought to call 911,” she said.
Instead, she pressed the panic button on an ADT security system unit. The pressing of the button sent a transmission to one of ADT’s call centers in Rochester, New York where the responder called the sheriff’s dispatch center.
Jolene Zehner answered at the dispatch call center. In a 43-second call Zehner was able to locate the panic alarm call on Lexwood Road and identify Kissel as the name on the ADT account.
“Usually with those calls we don’t get call backs so we don’t know what we’re getting into,” Zehner said.
Zehner requested an immediate response to deputies Reggie Ganzhorn and Jeff Myers.
“We arrived and looked around the property to see if there was any signs of criminal activity. We didn’t determine there was but we saw that there was a car in the garage, so maybe there was someone inside,” Ganzhorn remembered.
When he could not make contact with Kissel inside the home, he knocked on the neighbors’ door.
“The neighbor was able to provide us with a cell number for her husband,” he said.
The deputies made contact with Mr. Kissel, who works at Kissel and Associates on Lexington Avenue just minutes away. Kissel said he rushed home.
When they got inside, the first thing they heard were faint cries of desperation: “Please help.”
The ambulance responded to the emergency call and Kissel was able to live another day to tell her story.
“I don’t think I would be here,” she said after questioned what she thought would have happened if it were not for the ADT button and a quick response time from first responders.
ADT Director of Corporate Affairs Bob Tucker said ADT’s call centers get nearly 19 million panic calls every year. He was glad Mrs. Kissel was able to use the panic alarm.
“We’ve got it down to a system that works, but if it weren’t for the sheriff’s department, this wouldn’t have happened,” he said as he presented Sheriff Steve Sheldon with a $5,000 check.
Sheldon thanked Tucker and his department.
“I’m proud to accept this check for $5,000. It will be used for equipment in our department. I’m proud of the fine work of our office and for the quick transport for Mrs. Kissel,” Sheldon said.
