I'm appalled at emergency response time on WDW property

[chmurf]

We called 911 once from POP Century Lobby for DW
there is a RCFD unit based just at the top of Victory Way on Buena Vista Drive.
I am not exagerating when I say that I was still on the phone and we already were hearing sirens.
EMTs came in, checked on my wife, concluded it was minor and she didn't need to be transported to the hospital, and it was just a bad allergy rash. One of the EMTs even went to check inside the hotel's store if the medication they had there would be okay or if we would need to go to CVS.

Quite impressed with their responsiveness and professionalism

Let me take this occasion to thank them.

 

[wilkeliza]

1) How would a guest know it's Orlando picking up?
2) That sounds like a problem with the 911 system that it sends 911 calls from Disney to Orlando dispatch.
3) Dispatchers should be smart enough to know if someone says they're at the MK parking lot, or Spaceship Earth, that means Disney, which means transfer to Reedy Creek.

1) when you call it says Orlando 911 what is you emergency.
2) it is a cell phone problem that doesn't just happen at Disney. Cell
phone route 911 based on a lot of things. If you use a landline phone it should always go to Reedy Creek.
3) Dispatchers are like all jobs. Some care and some are just there for the paycheck until they get fired. Yes they should be smart enough to know if you say I'm at the Magic Kingdom they auto transfer you but I just shared what was drilled into our heads during saftey training at EPCOT.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks. There were a few of us there helping. No big thing to me, it's what I do for a living.

The slow response by ems concerns me greatly. I hope it was a fluke and that they are normally much quicker.

How long does a paramedic response take? I'd think 15 minutes isn't that slow. Yes, it does feel like a long response time to anyone involved, but, by the time you call 911 and they respond at home, unless you live within a block or two of the responders home location, it's going to involve traffic issues.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

1) when you call it says Orlando 911 what is you emergency.
2) it is a cell phone problem that doesn't just happen at Disney. Cell
phone route 911 based on a lot of things. If you use a landline phone it should always go to Reedy Creek.
3) Dispatchers are like all jobs. Some care and some are just there for the paycheck until they get fired. Yes they should be smart enough to know if you say I'm at the Magic Kingdom they auto transfer you but I just shared what was drilled into our heads during saftey training at EPCOT.

I doubt your average guest is going to even know what Reedy Creek is, much less ask to be transferred from the main Orlando line. It wouldn't even occur to me, honestly, and I live here!

 

[wilkeliza]

I doubt your average guest is going to even know what Reedy Creek is, much less ask to be transferred from the main Orlando line. It wouldn't even occur to me, honestly, and I live here!

That's why CMs should call because they are trained for it.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

That's why CMs should call because they are trained for it.

Agreed, I just think some guests might be apt to panic/try to be helpful and call anyway.

 

[wilkeliza]

Agreed, I just think some guests might be apt to panic/try to be helpful and call anyway.

Oh the one time I was on the phone with dispatch doing triage while emergency was in route there were no less than 5 others calling 911 even though they were already on the line. I even had a guest tell me I didn't know what I was doing and was trying to move the woman and put a card in her mouth to stop her from bitting her tounge when 911 dispatch was clear not to do that as she was bleeding from her head not a seizure so we needed to stabalized her neck and put pressure on the wound.

 

[JimMIA]

A couple of points, based on my experiences on numerous shifts on rescue units in Miami, and also serving as an EMT in remote areas:

First wilkeliza is correct about cell phones above. Cell calls are routed based on where the cell phone tower that picks up your call is -- and the GPS location that yields can be quite inaccurate. The tower could be onsite at WDW or offsite, probably is several miles from your location, and would be different for different cell carriers. It could also be that ALL cell calls are routed to Orlando 911 and then transferred from there. That kind of transfer takes only a second or two and doesn't greatly delay the response of EMS.

EMS response times depend on many factors. There is a bit of a dispatch delay because of the time it takes the dispatcher to gather the necessary information to select the right type of unit. That's a critical decision, and worth every second it takes. Then, there is the process of seeing who is available and actually activating the alarm and radio/computer transmission of the call information. That whole process can take 3-4 minutes sometimes from the first ring at 911 to the unit acknowledging the call.

The unit's response is immediate in the sense that the medics are in the truck in no more than a minute, but they could be a second-in or third-in unit because others are working other calls. If that's the case, it's going to increase the drive time. Traffic can slow them down, although traffic at WDW is not heavy enough to cause much delay. All of the Reedy Creek units are pretty close and response times should be pretty good.

 

[JimMIA]

That's why CMs should call because they are trained for it.

Everybody should call. Nothing in the "chain of survival" begins to happen until that first person recognizes the emergency and makes the call. If somebody else wants to go look for a CM, that's fine because they do have some additional training, should know where things like first aid kits and AEDs are, etc. But the sooner the call, the better -- regardless of the skill of the caller. The 911 dispatchers will get the info they need.

 

[JimMIA]

I even had a guest tell me I didn't know what I was doing and was trying to move the woman and put a card in her mouth to stop her from bitting her tounge when 911 dispatch was clear not to do that as she was bleeding from her head not a seizure so we needed to stabalized her neck and put pressure on the wound.

Yeah, that's the problem with helpful people. I've been on the scene WITH rescue, WITH the ambulance, and had well-intentioned bystanders try to "help" in really dangerous ways.

And of course, if your patient HAD been having a seizure, putting something in their mouth would have been one of the worst things you could do anyway.

 

[Magpie]

Everybody should call. Nothing in the "chain of survival" begins to happen until that first person recognizes the emergency and makes the call. If somebody else wants to go look for a CM, that's fine because they do have some additional training, should know where things like first aid kits and AEDs are, etc. But the sooner the call, the better -- regardless of the skill of the caller. The 911 dispatchers will get the info they need.

In this case, perhaps. But, when I volunteer at our church's bazaar we are expressly told NOT to call 911 without consulting the medic on site. Why? Because we get a lot of old folks from the nearby home, and inevitably one or two feel faint or wobbly, and the moment an elderly person topples over you'll get sixteen "helpful" calls to 911, which only leads to massive confusion and increases the workload on all the organizers. Instead, we are told to send a runner to fetch the medic (who is either in a room nearby, or who can be summoned by loudspeaker, if he's not), make the distressed person as comfortable as possible, and loudly instruct everyone around that the situation is under control, back up, make room and, "PLEASE DO NOT CALL EMERGENCY SERVICES! DO NOT CALL!"

Now, obviously I'm going to ignore that if I see what looks to be a genuine emergency in front of me. Which I told our organizer, and which he didn't like to hear, but he can lump it. I'm not easily panicked and I've never had reason to call 911, but I'm still going to reserve the right to do so, if I think it's necessary.

That said, I understand why they don't want people calling 911. It's been a mess, in the past.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

I ive in a city and the EMT response time is around that. My dad had a heart attack and it took the ambulance 30 min to get to him. If you need police for an emergency it is also around the same response time.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

What does it say about our society that EMT's, teachers, etc are paid so little while sports and "reality" stars are rolling in millions? It makes me sick.

Glad you were able to help the woman until help arrived.

Some fast food places pay their employees more than the military.

 

[Dentam]

Some fast food places pay their employees more than the military.

It really is amazing what we value in this country.

 

[swimchick1984]

Where I grew up that would be a normal response time. The fire department is all volunteer so you would have to wait for the volunteers to get the page and then get to there trucks and go out. Also there is not necessarily always an ambulance close by (they are paid). Depending on where in the county an ambulance is already dispatched they stage in different parts of the city.

Although my town was only 4 miles long so it does not take very long to get anywhere.

 

[emsstacey]

10-15 seems like a long time when you are waiting, but think about it from the other side. They are in a central location to all parks and do not usually sit waiting inside the vehicle. Even with running to the truck, driving to the park, and then going inside the park to the patient... that is pretty good response time. It could take 5-10 minutes if they were already stationed inside the park.

 

[bcla]

1) when you call it says Orlando 911 what is you emergency.
2) it is a cell phone problem that doesn't just happen at Disney. Cell
phone route 911 based on a lot of things. If you use a landline phone it should always go to Reedy Creek.
3) Dispatchers are like all jobs. Some care and some are just there for the paycheck until they get fired. Yes they should be smart enough to know if you say I'm at the Magic Kingdom they auto transfer you but I just shared what was drilled into our heads during saftey training at EPCOT.

Every area does it differently. In California, all 911 calls from mobile phones go to the California Highway Patrol central dispatch and the first thing they ask is for a specific location. Having a statewide or regional 911 call center is pretty common.

A lot of lines these days are VoIP, which may be different than traditional landlines.

 

[JimMIA]

I ive in a city and the EMT response time is around that. My dad had a heart attack and it took the ambulance 30 min to get to him. If you need police for an emergency it is also around the same response time.

Wow...that's really awful response time for emergency calls in an urban area!

 

[mjkacmom]

Where I grew up that would be a normal response time. The fire department is all volunteer so you would have to wait for the volunteers to get the page and then get to there trucks and go out. Also there is not necessarily always an ambulance close by (they are paid). Depending on where in the county an ambulance is already dispatched they stage in different parts of the city.

Although my town was only 4 miles long so it does not take very long to get anywhere.

My town is 3 miles, paid fire and police, ambulances, 2 volunteer fire houses, even a rescue boat!

 

[JimMIA]

In this case, perhaps. But, when I volunteer at our church's bazaar we are expressly told NOT to call 911 without consulting the medic on site. Why? Because we get a lot of old folks from the nearby home, and inevitably one or two feel faint or wobbly, and the moment an elderly person topples over you'll get sixteen "helpful" calls to 911, which only leads to massive confusion and increases the workload on all the organizers. Instead, we are told to send a runner to fetch the medic (who is either in a room nearby, or who can be summoned by loudspeaker, if he's not), make the distressed person as comfortable as possible, and loudly instruct everyone around that the situation is under control, back up, make room and, "PLEASE DO NOT CALL EMERGENCY SERVICES! DO NOT CALL!"

Yeah, but that's an unusual situation to have a professional right there.

I have a similar situation. My daughter is a high level competitive figure skater, and above a certain level U.S. Figure Skating requires a medical professional to be on-site during the practice sessions, warmups and actual competitive events. I volunteer for those events, and we do have occasional injuries (although they are far fewer and less serious that what we have in public skating sessions). I'm right there watching, so I assess the patient and make a decision whether we need rescue (who are actually located in the same shopping center as the rink).

Now, obviously I'm going to ignore that if I see what looks to be a genuine emergency in front of me. Which I told our organizer, and which he didn't like to hear, but he can lump it. I'm not easily panicked and I've never had reason to call 911, but I'm still going to reserve the right to do so, if I think it's necessary.

...as you should.