What is 911 CARES?

New Hampshire 911 CARES (Citizens' Assistance Registry for Emergency Services) is a program of the Division of Emergency Services and Communications that allows individuals to associate a phone number with an individual who has a chronic medical condition or with an address where hazardous materials are stored. When NH 911 is called from a phone number registered in CARES, the NH 911 telecommunicator answering the call has immediate access to the information that has been submitted to the CARES database.

What is it for?

A CARES entry can provide additional contextual information for a telecommunicator as they handle a call. The conditions and materials identified in the registry were identified by NH 911’s Public Safety Answering Point leadership team as most likely to provide immediate actionable information to the telecommunicator. Many medical conditions are not eligible for CARES entries because our existing medical protocol system will quickly identify the primary complaint and send the most appropriate response. Examples of conditions that are eligible for CARES entries include conditions that may affect the caller’s state of mind, may affect the initial actions of the first responders arriving on scene, or may affect the caller’s ability to communicate. Eligible conditions include Alzheimer’s, dementia, cognitive disability, epilepsy, diabetes, hearing impaired, the presence of a pacemaker or LVAD, medication allergies, and more. A CARES entry may also include information to help first responders access a patient such as codes for security gates or a note regarding the presence of a service animal.

CARES in Action

In March of 1996, the 911 CARES database (then known as Supplemental ALI) was put to the test when a 911 call was received from a Nashua resident. When the call came to the 911 telecommunicator, the only thing audible was a barking dog. Thankfully, the caller had submitted a form indicating she had a sleep disorder and there was a medical dog trained to dial 911 in her home. The 911 telecommunicator relayed the information to the local dispatch agency and help was on the way. As it turned out, the woman had stopped breathing and an alarm was sounding on her breathing machine. If the alarm sounded, the dog was trained to knock the kitchen wall phone off the hook with his nose and then rake his paw over the speed dial pad which had been programmed to dial 911. Not a single word was spoken and the woman received the help she needed.

Sign up today!

For more information on 911 CARES, visit cares.desc.nh.gov. There you can view our 911 CARES FAQ and set up and access your 911 CARES account. If you have further questions, please send an e-mail to NH911CARES@desc.nh.gov.

A downloadable CARES registration form is available here.

You can also contact the Division of Emergency Services and Communications at 603-271-6911, option 4 to request a paper form.