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Friday, June 23, 2023, 11:55 a.m.
I will never forget the date and the time. My wife was in grave danger of dying.
I had been out shopping for the reception held after Friday-evening religious services, and I went looking for her. I found her sitting in the bathroom.
Her face was contorted, and she couldn't speak intelligibly.
I took out my cellphone and dialed the three numbers that most Americans now know instinctively. 9-1-1.
I give the operator my name and address, and then said, "My wife is having a stroke."
From that moment, a sophisticated and capable medical system kicked into gear.
Within a very few minutes, Duncansville EMS was at the door and took her to UPMC Altoona.
I arrived at the hospital and saw her fear-stricken eyes as she was wheeled into an operating room. The surgeon was not overly optimistic: a 50-50 chance of survival.
Dr. Audrey R. Korotkin, the rabbi of Altoona's Temple Beth Israel and my wife of nearly 34 years, indeed survived, a miracle that was entirely due to the lightning response of an amazing medical system, all of it initiated by Blair County's 9-1-1 system.
With intensive, appropriate care, she went home approximately 75 hours after her stroke. Since then, she has performed a wedding, officiated at a bar mitzvah, and led High Holy days services.
But her recovery very likely would not have been possible without 9-1-1. Without 9-1-1, those odds outside the operating room would have been considerably longer than even money.
Worst case, she never would have made it to the operating room without 9-1-1. I believe that 9-1-1 saved my wife's life.
Across Pennsylvania, I have no doubt that lives are saved every day by those three digits.
Currently, the Pennsylvania Legislature is considering legislation to extend assistance for the state's county-operated 9-1-1 systems.
That assistance is scheduled to expire on Jan. 31 of next year if not extended. Without an extension, the costs of 9-1-1 would fall entirely on the counties and their taxpayers.
That's us.
The state assistance is generated by a monthly fee, currently $1.65, for every cellphone line in the state. The pending legislation would increase the fee, referred to as a surcharge, to $1.97.
Every year thereafter until January 2029, the fee would be adjusted for inflation. The initial increase to $1.97 is roughly 20%, but the surcharge has not changed since 2015.
In that period, consumer-price inflation has risen by nearly 25%, so the proposed new rate does not even catch up with lost purchasing power.
The legislation, House Bill 1304, passed that chamber in June, and it now resides in the Senate.
In opening a Sept. 11 hearing of the Senate Veteran Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, the chairman, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, noted fairly that 9-1-1 should not be given a blank check. The inflation numbers clearly indicate, however, that this is no blank check.
Some legislators oppose the inflation adjustments, but costs of operating 9-1-1 systems increase annually, and no justification has been raised for why these systems should wait five years for another fee increase.
Mastriano should call a committee vote to approve the 9-1-1 assistance extension and send it to the Senate floor for a rapid vote in favor.
The legislation then would go to Gov. Josh Shapiro for his signature. It needs to be done now.
As Mastriano rightly stated, this is a life-or-death issue for all Pennsylvanians.
9-1-1 saves lives.
Don Clippinger has been a journalist for more than 55 years. He resides in Duncansville.