Beckley, WV (WOAY) – The Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office Special Needs Registry
helps the agency identify and assist individuals with special needs during emergencies.
Knowing how critical that information is on a call, Sheriff Frank Priddy has prioritized the registry.
“He really cares about this community and wants everyone, all walks of life, and those with special needs to feel safe,” said IT Manager/Special Needs Community Liaison Eric Jourdan. “So he is working on training, on different aspects of letting the deputies know how to assess these situations beforehand and during.”
Special needs include the autism spectrum, Down syndrome, or epilepsy.
“Any type of special needs you can think of that families and their loved ones can go in and say, ‘okay, if law enforcement, EMS, or fire shows up at my house, I want them to know there’s something that could affect my loved one,'” Jourdan said.
This is personal for the IT manager, who has a 10-year-old non-verbal son on the autism spectrum.
He says the special needs registry means a lot.
“Ethan doesn’t know how to communicate that well. So when someone talks to him, he will just kind of walk by,” said Jourdan. “That makes me a little bit worried if something were to happen to my wife or me, we would want someone to know how to assess the situation when they get there.”
If law enforcement arrives at a call where someone is passed out due to an epileptic seizure or recurrent strokes, they must have your special needs loved one’s information.
You can register here…
https://raleighcountysheriff.Com/autism-and-special-needs-registry
“They will get a confirmation email after they submit (their details). Once we get that, it will go into the system because it comes to me directly,” the special needs community liaison said. “We want everyone in the community to feel included and safe.”
