TUCSON, Ariz. — A nationwide organization opened a chapter in Tucson to help support 9-1-1 call centers in Arizona.
Kyle Plush Answer the Call Foundation started in Ohio after Kyle Plush got stuck under the seat of his families van. He called 9-1-1 using Siri on his phone, but because of communication issues, they weren't able to find him.
Six hours after he got stuck, Kyle's dad found him. Kyle died after the incident.
Since his death, the Plush family started the organization in Ohio to not only support 9-1-1 call centers, but to also advocate for new technologies.
The two technologies are RapidSOS and Smart911.
The Tucson chapter of Answer the Call foundation was started by Jane Laykins, who was friends with the Plush family in Ohio.
This is the local chapter of a nationwide network.
— Veronika Vernachio (@vvernachio) May 4, 2019
They’re doing all this for Kyle Plush, a 16-year-old who died after being trapped under his car. He called 9-1-1 with Siri, but unfortunately they couldn’t find him.
I’ll have more on @kgun9 tonight at 8:30 and 10 p.m. pic.twitter.com/ajW3SsddqW
On Saturday, they passed out 175 cookies to four different call centers Oro Valley, Marana, Tucson and Pima County.
"To just show support to telecommunicators with a tiny little token of bring them cookies and telling them that we understand how difficult their job is and how important they are to us," Laykins said.
She said she will keep advocating for the foundation in Arizona until every 9-1-1 call center adopts these new technologies.
"It may seem mundane every time you take a call and it's somebody else with the wrong number or somebody else with a cold, but that one call could be Kyle on the other end," Laykins said.
