A Dublin ISD student will soon see her artistic endeavors in a full size mural on the newly purchased juvenile probation office in Stephenville.
Selene Moreno, who will be starting at Dublin High School in the fall, was the winner of the second annual 9-1-1 Heroes Art Contest, hosted by North Central Texas 9-11 and RapidDeploy. As an 8th grader at Dublin Junior High School, Moreno competed against 600 others eventually making the top 10 where the public could vote.
Out of the top 10, she was declared the winner.
The contest invited students K-12 across the NCT9-1-1 service area to participate in celebrating National First Responders Day (Oct. 28) through creating artwork that honors our everyday heroes—first responders.
The win also included a scholarship contribution from Motorola Solutions to support her future education and artistic endeavors.
“We are proud to recognize this year’s National First Responders’ Day Art Contest winner and celebrate the creativity and thoughtfulness shown in their work. Selene’s artwork is a meaningful tribute to the dedication and service of first responders who protect and serve our communities every day. NCT9-1-1 and RapidDeploy, a Motorola Solutions company, are honored to support opportunities that allow students to express appreciation for first responders while fostering their creativity,” 9-11 Community Engagement Coordinator Nikki Newton said on behalf of NCT9-1-1 and RapidDeploy.
At the Monday, July 13 Erath County Commissioner Court meeting, unanimous approval was given for NCT 9-1-1 to move forward with selecting an artist and the painting of the mural to begin.
Once the mural is constructed it must remain there for three years, and a dedication of the mural will occur.
Eventually, NCT 9-1-1 hopes to have a student mural in each and every county they serve, Newton said.
Once the mural is completed there will be a public dedication ceremony with first responders, county representatives and of course, the artist herself.
Further information on the ceremony will be included in The Dublin Citizen at a later date.
The commissioners also unanimously gave approval for Acid Remap, LLC to take local EMS protocol and put them into an easy-to-use app.
“It’s a lot more accessible,” Assistant EMS Director Colby Swearingen said.
The app is $1,000 a year for three years with a $500 onboarding expense.
County Judge Brandon Huckabee also asked Swearingen to discuss a recent incident where having whole blood available for transfusions on all Erath County ambulances made a huge difference for a patient.
Swearingen detailed a motorcycle accident where the rider was approaching death with a lacerated lung leading to internal bleeding.
“We were able to do a blood transfusion on scene,” Swearingen said.
With a super quick response time EMS was able to do the transfusion and stabilize the patient before the air ambulance arrived on scene. The patient was transported to Ft. Worth, receiving an additional blood transfusion, had surgery and made a full recovery.
Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Brooks gave the court an update on the joint dispatch center project which is expected to go live in August.
Brooks gave an update of the drive test done by L3 Harris on the new countywide radio system.
The contract requires the radios to have a 94.3% for coverage in the county. However, during the drive test the county actually has 97.3%.
“It’s really going to change response times,” he said.
An amendment was changed to the system purchase agreement and services agreement between the county and L3 Harris just due to the wording.
Brooks stated that there was no cost involved in the change and that in regards to the dispatch and radio project, all changes had been made within the budget and contingency money set aside.
Erath County is still not under a burn ban and the entire state of Texas remains with a low drought index at this time.