Today during a medical emergency I was the first to dial 911. A lady had passed out and fell to the floor. About 5 people rushed to her aid and I instinctly pick up and dialed 911. Based on what I saw, I was easily the first person to place the call. There were about 200 of us in attendance.
Instead of a live operator, I received a recording. It said something to the effect of "we're busy, please don't hang up. Place the phone down and move to safety." Then the message played in Spanish. The loop played at least three times before I set the phone down to determine if I could be more helpful some other way. I'd estimated I was on hold for at least 2 minutes.
The lady came too and I reached to my phone to explain to the dispatcher what was going on. The line was dead. There was no operator on the other end.
After about 10 minutes an ambulance arrived and I met them at the entrance to direct them to where she was, I mentioned to the crew that I was on hold for about 3 minutes and they replied - "yup, that sounds like our dispatch"
This was a real emergency and I could not get an operator on 911. In addition had it been a much more serious emergency it would been a complete disaster.
After telling this story to a few friends in the know, they all seemed to agree that Marion County 911 is unable to handle the task. How do we get this elevated so that it gets fixed?
Instead of a live operator, I received a recording. It said something to the effect of "we're busy, please don't hang up. Place the phone down and move to safety." Then the message played in Spanish. The loop played at least three times before I set the phone down to determine if I could be more helpful some other way. I'd estimated I was on hold for at least 2 minutes.
The lady came too and I reached to my phone to explain to the dispatcher what was going on. The line was dead. There was no operator on the other end.
After about 10 minutes an ambulance arrived and I met them at the entrance to direct them to where she was, I mentioned to the crew that I was on hold for about 3 minutes and they replied - "yup, that sounds like our dispatch"
This was a real emergency and I could not get an operator on 911. In addition had it been a much more serious emergency it would been a complete disaster.
After telling this story to a few friends in the know, they all seemed to agree that Marion County 911 is unable to handle the task. How do we get this elevated so that it gets fixed?