HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Houston County 911 has enhanced emergency access with a text-to-911 service for people with impaired hearing or situations where texting is safer than calling.

“We have a actual pretty large community of communication impaired individuals in Houston County,” said Lt. Veronica Edens.

One out of every six people in Houston County struggles with some type of hearing loss, according to the Georgia Department of Human Services.

Edens says the 911 center recognized this need eight years ago and incorporated real-time text into their systems, but many people still don’t know about the service.

“I don’t think they know, so they typically will use a Georgia relay service to talk with us,” Edens said.

While the relay service is helpful, communicating directly with 911 sp

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