By Bill Laitner
Detroit Free Press (Michigan)
Copyright 2007 Detroit Free Press
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
It’s just a little black box that now hangs unobtrusively from the top of Pat Breneman’s condominium door.
But for her, living alone with heart disease at 79, the steel device — the Knox-Box Rapid Entry System — is a reassuring sight.
On the day last week when Farmington Hills firefighters installed the box and tested their master key in it, Breneman was smiling and looking spry in a pink jogging suit and white running shoes.
Yet, her memory was vivid of a day in January when she lay on her carpeting, unable to move. Her heart had begun failing, and she’d called 911 just in time, before collapsing.
“I thought, ‘If this is the way I have to go, fine. No pain,’” she recalled. But before sinking to the floor of her library at Cove Creek condominiums, this retired nurse — and widow of a cardiologist — had done a very smart thing: She’d unlocked her front door.
That meant that when Farmington Hills emergency medical technicians arrived, they didn’t have to ring the doorbell and wait, then dial up Breneman’s phone only to hear it ring and ring with no answer, and finally begin a debate about whether to smash a window or break down the front door. Instead, they burst through the unlocked entrance and immediately began administering life-saving treatment.
But what if Breneman had failed to unlock the entrance, or been unable to? The little black box now on her door will let rescue personnel get inside quickly, and without the delay or damage caused when they face a locked entry door, said Farmington Hills Fire Chief Richard Marinucci.
The box now contains a front-door key, and homeowners also use the boxes to hold medical information, all of which emergency personnel can retrieve within seconds of their arrival, Marinucci said.
“We use Knox-Box, although there are a couple other brands of this kind of device,” he said. Knox-Box may have been the first such product on the market, and for years Farmington Hills firefighters have encouraged businesses to install it, the chief said.
This spring, the Farmington Hills Fire Department —in a joint effort with the city’s Senior Division — is encouraging use of the devices by homeowners, especially the elderly, the chronically ill, those with disabilities and anyone else who might be able to call 911 but unable to open a door to first responders.
The city began promoting the boxes to homeowners after hearing about a similar program in Allen Park, Chief Marinucci said.
People interested in obtaining a Knox Box or similar security device in most cities should contact their fire department. But those in Farmington Hills should call the city’s Senior Division at 248-473-1830, 8:30-4:30 p.m. weekdays.
Unfortunately, the boxes aren’t cheap, said Mary Dimanno, supervisor of the Senior Division.
“They do cost about $200, so there’s really no way we can provide them to everyone,” Dimanno said as she watched the installation at Breneman’s condo.
“But if a person meets certain low-income criteria and needs one, we’re looking for funds to help,” said Lew Cantor, chair of the Farmington Area Commission on Aging.
The devices can be opened only by firefighters. They use a special master key designed to fit every similar box within a given city, according to the rescue personnel attending Breneman’s installation — firefighters Enrique Alonzo and Eric Kokko, and Lt. Mike O’Brien.
“Of course, if there’s a fire going when we arrive, and we really need to break in, we will,” O’Brien said. “But otherwise, we’ll use the Knox-Box to prevent destroying the door or window. It will come up on our dispatch information that the house we’re going to has a Knox-Box, so we know before we get there.”
The Knox-Box isn’t something anyone could vandalize, said Fire Department Inspector Stanley Barnes.
Pointing to the device now hanging over Breneman’s door, Barnes said: “That’s quarter-inch steel that really isn’t easy to break into.”
The device has a mounting bracket that runs over the top of the door, preventing its removal unless the door is opened.
Breneman moved to her condo from a seven-bedroom house two miles away after her husband died in 1990. The Knox-Box is one more thing that will keep her living on her own and enjoying her living-room view of a forest, meandering creek and herd of 10 deer who share the woodland.
“As long as I’m able to live alone like this, and reach out for help when I need it, I’m comfortable here,” she said.