A The 911 operator in Washington, DC, was furloughed after sending an EMS to the wrong address on Monday.
The error delayed the emergency response to the correct address by minutes, where a woman was pronounced dead at the scene, said Christopher Geldart, deputy mayor for public safety and justice for Washington, DC. Washington Post.
FORMER 911 CALL CENTER CHIEF WHO RESIGNED DURING REVIEW
“We don’t believe the delay contributed to his death,” Geldart said.
The call came in around 10:05 a.m. for a person who “was unconscious or not breathing and could not be awakened,” said Kelly Brown, chief of staff for the Office of Unified Communications, which handles all calls related to the 911 and 311. .
The dispatcher then dispatched emergency responders to the address of 122 I Street, SE, more than a mile from the actual location of 1222 I Street, SE.
The correct address was learned at 10:13 a.m. and first responders were redelivered at 10:16 a.m., according to time stamps Dave Statter obtained by the outlet.
The deceased has been identified as 54-year-old Joyce Robertson, her mother, Patricia, told WUSA9. Robertson said he called 911 Monday morning when his daughter went into cardiac arrest.
The incident prompted an investigation by the Unified Communications Office.
The incident echoes similar complaints that prompted a 2021 audit of the city’s 911 system to address areas that could be improved to increase response time as the agency fell below national standards.
Some of the areas of concern included “inadequate oversight of call answering and dispatch operations, inconsistent or ineffective use of call scripting protocols, inconsistent use of location determination technology tools to determine locations “wrote Kathleen Patterson, auditor for Washington, DC, in the 114-page report.
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Earlier this year, the former head of the Office of Unified Communications was reappointed after resigning last year following accusations that the agency’s 911 system was wasting precious seconds trying to identify callers.
the Washington Examiner contacted the Office of Unified Communications and the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Public Safety and Justice for comment.