RURAL HOMES NEED CLEAR IDENTIFICATION

Maybe rural homeowners have reasons for not clearly marking their residences so they're easy to find.

Maybe they don't believe signs with numbers and letters are aesthetically pleasing. Or maybe they think everybody knows where their homes are and they don't need the special markers. Or maybe they value their privacy so much they don't want to put up easy-to-find identification.

Those reasons aren't good enough.

The lack of large, readable house numbers or other markers can mean precious minutes in case of a fire, police or ambulance call. Imagine if your spouse had a heart attack and you had to call an ambulance. If your house is clearly marked, you could stay inside with your loved one. If not, you might have to wait outdoors to wave the ambulance in.

It happens.

In Cape Girardeau County, where residents enjoy a countywide 911 emergency telephone system, dispatchers can use information about surrounding homes to guide emergency workers. Still, sheriff's department Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson reports, emergency workers struggle to find homes two or three times a month.

In addition, when the caller's location is different from the victim's, the 911 system is little help. Dispatchers must rely on directions given over the phone.

And in the Southeast Missouri counties without a 911 system -- Bollinger, Iron, Wayne and Ripley -- the problem is worse.

Emergency workers in those counties follow directions that include "out by the old Smith place" and "just east of the big barn." But those phrases mean nothing to newcomers.

The answer is simple and takes only a little effort on the part of homeowners.

Purchase block numbers three or four inches high. Affix them to both sides of your mailbox, which probably sits on the main road. Affix numbers to your house if it sits a considerable distance from the mailbox. Make sure your roads are adequately marked. If they aren't, call the county's 911 addressing office so they can order road signs.

The result: Precious minutes will be saved when emergency workers are looking for your home. There's more likelihood of meeting that "golden hour" a term used by emergency workers to describe the make-it-or-break-it hour after an accident occurs.

Certainly, a few dollars spend on house numbers today are worth the lives that could be saved tomorrow.