Long Response Time in Pa. Raises Questions on Locating Patients

Oct. 11--Barbara DeNooyer had the worst possible case of deja vu.

Two weeks ago, her 80-year old husband was incoherent, running a high fever and did not have enough energy to get out of bed that morning. DeNooyer called 9-1-1 for an ambulance, asking them to bring along a wheelchair and stretcher to get her husband out of the bedroom. Dispatch called for the ambulance then asked DeNooyer for directions to her home.

She panicked, not knowing the names of the streets surrounding her -- despite being in the same scenario before. Her husband had surgery three years before to resolve an aneurism in his aorta, but he developed complications by the time he had returned home. DeNooyer called for an ambulance during Super Storm Sandy, and dispatch asked for directions. She afterwards updated her contact and residential information with the county, and yet, her problem persisted.

"UPS could find me, DHL can find me, but an ambulance cannot find me?" DeNooyer said. "This does not make any sense at all."

The ambulance arrived at DeNooyer's Bushkill house 40 minutes after she had called. Her husband was hospitalized with 103-degree fever. When she later explained that she had previously updated her address information and asked why she had to provide directions, she was told by a dispatch official that the ambulance had a hard time finding her because she lives in a community.

"This is scary," DeNooyer said. "The idea is that when you dial 9-1-1 you expect to get the assitance that you need, but I didn't get that. The ambulance service was great, but just waiting for the ambulance and being told they can't locate you becuase you live in a community?"

What people like DeNooyer may not know, Monroe County Control Center Director of Communications Gary Hoffman said, is the process of how an ambulence service finds people.

Hoffman, who sent DeNooyer a letter explaining their process earlier this week, said dispatch asking the caller for directions and locations is more for confirmation than anything.

When dispatch receives a call, Hoffman said, a flyover image of the caller's location, including the top of their house and surrounding neighborhood, appears on a map. What asking for directions does is give the dispatcher validation that what they're seeing is the real location.

"They think the magic of technology is going to give us everything we need," Hoffman said.

From there, dispatch provides directions to the ambulance via the flyover map. Surprisingly, though, the county control center refrains from using global positioning systems in their vehicles. The difference of a dated GPS and an updated map in front of a dispatcher could be minutes that save someone's life.

"Not every GPS company has the updated maps, so we tell them to not trust the GPS coordinates to get there," Hoffman said.

As technology grows, the system is not perfect, Hoffman said. But GPS systems aren't projected to be the next implementation for emergency services. Hoffman said some neighboring regions have begun to use auto-vehicle location, which entails a "data box" being placed into each emergency vehicle.

The data box tracks the vehicle's speed, location, and functionality to dispatch, allowing the driver and dispatch to be on the same page. The only flaw, Hoffman said, is the price tag -- each box depends on cellular data use, and runs a monthly bill over $65 per vehicle.

Still though, Hoffman called it the "next natural step" in cutting down the time between help and people like DeNooyer.

Copyright 2015 - Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, Pa.