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The Papillion Fire Department will be better able to assist residents who are deaf or hearing impaired after receiving a $5,000 grant from the Sarpy/Cass County Health Department.
With the money, the Fire Department bought 17 Sidekick II receivers, an alerting system that uses a strobe light to notify people of a number of things: ringing telephones or doorbells, smoke detectors and weather warning sirens.
Any deaf or hearing-impaired resident in Sarpy and Cass Counties is eligible to receive the alerting system free. So far, only two requests have been made for the 17 units.
Anyone interested in receiving one of the devices can contact the Papillion Fire Department at 339-8617. The department will install the alarm and provide instructions on how to use it.
The program is one of very few in the country and the only one in a region that includes Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Missouri, according to a City of Papillion press release.
—World-Herald News Service
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