Ambulances and emergency responders are frequently sent to the wrong locations by 911 dispatchers in Washington, D.C., and are generally struggling to keep up with demand.
A man recently called 911 after getting trapped in his car by a downed tree in Rock Creek Park, however it took dispatch six minutes to send units because they did not know where Rock Creek Park was located. Officials say 911 dispatch officers are not properly prioritizing emergency calls, which slows their overall responses. Officials testifying Wednesday before the D.C. Council also said officials regularly send the most experienced personnel to non-life threatening situations, which leaves them in a bind when they receive an urgent emergency call, reports NBC Washington.
The head of the District’s 911 call center spoke with the D.C. Council Wednesday about how to address this ongoing problem. A paramedic who testified said getting sent to the incorrect location happens on a nightly basis.
“Last night, it happened twice,” Holly O’Byrne, a D.C. paramedic, told the Council. “That’s typical. They were calling for multiple stabbing victims and shooting victims yesterday who needed immediate critical care. Paramedic transport units weren’t available.”
Officials plan to reform their training parameters at the call center and bring in more workers to reduce errors. Karima Holmes, director of the Office of Unified Communications, defended 911 dispatchers overall, noting the public rarely hears about all the good they do.
“We bring in 1.4 or 1.5 million calls a year,” Holmes told the Council. “And I think that the calls that we do have mishaps in do end up in the public light. We have other aspects in place, including training and partnerships with other agencies, that we have to look at.”
Slow response times have plagued D.C. emergency services throughout the year, despite officials spending $9 million on a private ambulance contract. D.C. officials hired a third-party ambulance service contracted from American Medical Response (AMR) in April to alleviate the burden on the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.
Initial AMR data showed the ambulances were only on time 73 percent of the time. The contract mandates a maximum response time of 10 minutes 90 percent of the time, or face fines. District officials have failed to enforce the monetary penalty.
The contract is also intended to help replace the existing fleet of ambulances, which have regular mechanical failures and need constant repair. Officials said they have not enforced fines on AMR over responses yet, because of a marked increase in the number of 911 calls this summer. The contract anticipated a maximum of 165 calls for AMR ambulances a day. In August, they were averaging 180.
The increased calls are partly attributed to a massive increase in the amount of overdoses from synthetic marijuana products this summer. D.C. Fire and EMS responded to nearly 600 synthetic marijuana overdoses in July. Officials say the situation would be dire without the added AMR ambulances.
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