40 MINUTE wait for 911 for medical emergency

[Dumbfounded]

On Tuesday at Marshall's plaza on Deleware Ave,
my 84-year-old mom tripped over a cement parking divider (the sun was in her eyes) and fell hard on the concrete.
Workers from Dollar General and others came over to assist her as she lay on the ground bleeding and badly bruised and the Dollar General workers ran into the store and called 911 who kept on reassuring the worker that they're sending help.

Ten minutes passed and nothing.
So they called 9/11 again while my mom's on the ground in horrible pain.

Twenty minutes pass (roughly) and the employee called 911 again: "we're sending someone.

Thirty minutes or more pass and still no EMS unit. No police nothing.
So the Family Dollar employee called the Kenmore Mercy Hospital directly and FINALLY they sent out an EMS unit which got there within ten minutes or less.

The workers at Midas Muffler (at Marshall's plaza) never saw anything like it.

A nearly 40 minute wait for emergency services.

By the way, no ambulance showed up after my mom was taken to the Kenmore Mercy

Even after three calls to 911.


I'm kind of p'd because if her injuries were worse, my mom could have died because no ambulance showed up.



Have any of you ever experienced this kind of negligence and incompetence from 911 dispatch?

[Surfing USA]

My sister was robbed, at gun point, in Buffalo and it took several calls and well over an hour for the Buffalo Police to respond.

Just another reason I prefer the burbs.

[run4it]

Actually, when i had a seizure at work the parameds were here (most of the way up HSBC tower) and had me strapped to a gurney before I woke up. I'm not sure how long I'm usually out...but no more than 20 minutes.

[CAugust]

that is totally UNACCEPTABLE - i dont know where I would start, but if i were you, Id make a huge stink of it - call the news and see if they will investigate it for you - those two examples are totally and uttlerly ridiculous....or if you dont want to do that - write an editorial

[Dumbfounded]

that is totally UNACCEPTABLE - i dont know where I would start, but if i were you, Id make a huge stink of it - call the news and see if they will investigate it for you - those two examples are totally and uttlerly ridiculous....or if you dont want to do that - write an editorial

Emailed the Mayor's 311 complaint website.

Emailed the closest 911 dispatch center to Marshall's Plaza, the Hertel Police Station

Emailed the reporter at 'The Buffalo News' who covered the story on how the family in Angola could not reach 911 by cellphone.

And

My oldest brother, in California sent a legal complaint letter WITH photos I took of my mom's severely bruised face to the proper authorities.


Being Buffalo, I do not really expect those responsible to be punished/reprimanded or explain WHY this happened.

I HOPE that I'll get a BELIEVABLE explanation and the my mom gets an apology from those in charge, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[wheresthesun]

First of all, I am so so sorry about your mom. I hope she is OK. How is her bone density? That sucks.

They should have been there inside of 5 minutes. There's NO excuse for that. EMT's should have arrived shortly thereafter. What if she'd had a heart-attack? Next time (pray there won't be one) it's "There's a woman in cardiac arrest..." Regardless of the situation. INEXCUSABLE. I would have been horrified.

This is frightening. I mean, please let us know how they explain this, do we call taxis? Fer Chrissakes.
How is mom feeling now? Bet she's pretty sore....

Emailed the Mayor's 311 complaint website.

Emailed the closest 911 dispatch center to Marshall's Plaza, the Hertel Police Station

Emailed the reporter at 'The Buffalo News' who covered the story on how the family in Angola could not reach 911 by cellphone.

And

My oldest brother, in California sent a legal complaint letter WITH photos I took of my mom's severely bruised face to the proper authorities.


Being Buffalo, I do not really expect those responsible to be punished/reprimanded or explain WHY this happened.

I HOPE that I'll get a BELIEVABLE explanation and the my mom gets an apology from those in charge, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Ms.Depew.to.you]

TERRIBLE. Please be a squeaky wheel. That is terrible and there's no excuse.

[Incognito]

Don't stop trying to get someone to respond. Are you a City resident? Contact your councilman. If not a resident, contact the councilman that represents the district where the Marshall's store is.

[wheresthesun]

Don't stop trying to get someone to respond. Are you a City resident? Contact your councilman. If not a resident, contact the councilman that represents the district where the Marshall's store is.

Might be Mike LoCurto? GREAT guy!

[MoreOfTheSame]

This is inexcusable. When I lived in NJ we went from all volunteer to paid EMS simply because a lack of volunteers was sometimes pushing daytime response times to over 20 minutes. At least in those cases the police would be on scene holding down the fort 'till we showed up. The reason we went paid is so crap like this wouldn't happen. As a former EMT I cringe whenever I read a horror story like this.

You should complain to anybody and everybody who will listen. Don't stop. You might save somebodies life.

Unfortunately, as you point out, this is Buffalo so there is next to zero accountability. I hope your councilman does a better job than mine (Niagara District --- Councilman Rivera) when I brought misconduct by city employees to his attention.

[Dumbfounded]

First of all, I am so so sorry about your mom. I hope she is OK. How is her bone density? That sucks.

They should have been there inside of 5 minutes. There's NO excuse for that. EMT's should have arrived shortly thereafter. What if she'd had a heart-attack? Next time (pray there won't be one) it's "There's a woman in cardiac arrest..." Regardless of the situation. INEXCUSABLE. I would have been horrified.

This is frightening. I mean, please let us know how they explain this, do we call taxis? Fer Chrissakes.
How is mom feeling now? Bet she's pretty sore....

Thanks for asking, Wheresthesun: She's taking Fosamax because her bone density is bordeline and if she had not fallen on her outstretched hands and her hip, at 84 she probably would have had a fracture and would have ended up in a nursing home which would KILL HER (because she's so independent and alert for her age).

Other than taking Hyrdocodone, putting ice on 4X a day and looking into having the cartelidge in her nose checked, she's in good spirits but man, I want to literally take those responsible and-No threats.

Mayor Empty Suit Murphy Brown the clown's 311 hotline has not gotten back to me since early last night when I filed a complaint
nor has the 911 dispatch on Hertel Ave to which I sent a duplicate email or the reporter from 'The Buffalo News' who wrote the Angola cellphone 911 story (that's a long shot anyways).

Incognito,

"Don't stop trying to get someone to respond. Are you a City resident? Contact your councilman. If not a resident, contact the councilman that represents the district where the Marshall's store is."

We're in the Deleware/Hertel Ave area.
I'm so used to these dirty smug slobs covering for each other that I don't know how much good pursuing this will do:
Told my Mom that we should SUE-NOT for money but because my mom EASILY could have died and also because I'm really, really, really very P'D off and want blood (not literally)-Just some sphincter's jobs.

Of course, mom doesn't want to sue, she's just glad that she's going to be all right (short-term prognosis) but I keep telling her that IF she had internal injuries, with the delay, she'd be crippled for life or dead.


I REFUSE to believe ANYONE at the 9/11 dispatch could be THIS incompetent.



Oldest brother handles personal injury law (ooooooooH!!!) and he wrote a letter with one of the photos of our mom that I sent him and my other brother to the proper authorities in Buffalo and at this point, we're waiting to see what happens.

Know that the longer we wait the less impact any possible punitive action or plausable, honest explanations we'll get.

[Dumbfounded]

Might be Mike LoCurto? GREAT guy!

Just sent him a detailed email along with two "mug shot-like" photos of my Mom's badly bruised face.

The fact that I've received NO answer means that those responsible do not want to admit guilt;Covering each other's asses or that they just don't care or both.

[HipKat]

Back in '98, when my ex-gf left me, she took most of everything I owned.
I came in off the road to find the place about empty.
So, I called the cops. It took 3 1/2 hrs for anyone to show up. When they did, they showed me the computer with all the calls going on, and between the violent crimes, accidents, etc, a call like mine was just not a priority.
OK, fair enough.
It wasn't a 911 call.

However, a few weeks later, when someone was trying to break in and I called 911 and told them it was happening right then and to hurry, while living on Hertel, a 1/2 mile from the Police Dept, it took 45 minutes for someone to respond!!!
The reply? "There's a lot going on tonight"

It was 3AM.

[Riven37]

First, soory about your mother. However, This issue will only get worse, you are now starting to feel the Obama new medical plan. Soon 911 will be the thing of the pass, and no one will show up because under Obama's plan its all about kill people off....Now make sure you vote for your guy he's doing you so well.

[HipKat]

Riv, that's two posts now that have nothing to do with Obama, yet you're blaming him???

Get real.