Spring Issue 2 - Knox Box

Residential Key Box Program Continued from page 1West Bend outlined the program’s many benefits in their request. Below is an excerptfrom their grant proposal.• Give senior citizens and physically disabled people independence for a longer periodof time in their own home. Seniors and disabled residents living independently arebecoming more common within the fire department’s jurisdiction. More independenceand a sense of security embody a better quality of life.• Give the same independence and security to individuals living in single familyresidential occupancies that individuals in multi-family housing receive. City codecurrently requires the owners of multiple family occupancies to provide a key lockbox at the front of the building.Captain Don Peil accessing the residential boxto gain entry into the house.• Decrease fire department patient contact times. First contact times increase whenaccess to a residence is not immediate. This program allows independent seniors anddisabled residents to receive quick access by the fire department for fire and medicalemergencies, improving their chance of a more successful outcome.• Provide rapid access the fire department needs to quickly mitigate incidents withoutcausing unnecessary forcible entry damage to the residence.• Enhance the West Bend Fire Department’s ability to protect the health and safetyof the public, as well as that of firefighting personnel. Public protection and firefightersafety is our goal! An effective key lock box program is one component of a completePublic Education & Life Safety Program to bring us one step closer to achievingour goal.• A File of Life (medical information)is also placed inside of the lock box.This gives responding units importantmedical information about the residentin case they cannot communicate withthe responding ambulance crew.• We also will perform a fire safety check of the home and make any recommendationsthey need to change to make their home a safer place to live in.Community agencies are encouraged tag to notify residents that the key boxto refer eligible candidates to the fire is the property of the fire department sodepartment. Eligible candidates receive they can be returned when occupancythe use of a Knox residential key box at no changes occur.charge. When the box is no longer needed, The goal of this program is to provideit is returned to the fire department for each resident of the target population ause at another residence. All key boxes residential key box at no charge. “The localhave been marked with an identification county health agency has given us a list ofthose who would benefit from this program– approximately 150 individuals in thecounty. At this point, we have 78 boxesso we can’t benefit everyone but we haveat least gotten a start,” explained Geidel.“We will continue to try to get additionalgrants to purchase additional boxes. Wealso intend to contact the resident byphone every 6-months to see how theyare doing or if their medical condition haschanged, or that the individual has movedinto a facility where they need to receiveextended care.”West Bend first implemented theKnox System in the early 1980s. In 2001an ordinance was passed requiring theboxes on sprinklered or alarmed buildings.Additionally multi-housing units wererequired to have a box. This ordinancewas retroactive. “The system has beena tremendous assist for our EMS calls,”shared Geidel, Approximately 15% ofthe city’s population is 65 years of ageor older.West Bend is on the outer suburbsof Milwaukee. The city got its name fromthe course of the Milwaukee River runningthrough their community.