I'm appalled at emergency response time on WDW property

[lifesavacation]

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.

This.

The last time I called 911, it took 20 minutes and I live less than a mile from a fire station. I called using a cell phone and the call went to a 911 dispatcher in another city and then they sent responders from a distant location. This is a cell phone problem--not an EMT problem.

 

[sam_gordon]

This.

The last time I called 911, it took 20 minutes and I live less than a mile from a fire station. I called using a cell phone and the call went to a 911 dispatcher in another city and then they sent responders from a distant location. This is a cell phone problem--not an EMT problem.

So dispatchers send people to where the caller ID says the call originates and NOT where the caller says they are? I'm sorry, if I call and say I need help at the MK parking lot, I don't care if the computer says I'm in Tampa, they should send the closest unit.

 

[lifesavacation]

So dispatchers send people to where the caller ID says the call originates and NOT where the caller says they are? I'm sorry, if I call and say I need help at the MK parking lot, I don't care if the computer says I'm in Tampa, they should send the closest unit.

I kept asking the dispatcher what was taking so long. And she kept telling me to calm down It was super frustrating to be so close to a fire station, which I told the dispatcher, and have them send EMTs from another part of the city. It's not like they didn't have my address. Maybe next time I need to have the fire station address to pass along.

Edited to add: This was in my home state of WA, not in FL.

 

[emsstacey]

I wonder if the unit from the station closest to you was already on a run? I can't imagine dispatch not sending the closest unit.

 

[Fire14]

I wok in a Nursing home and we had a pt pull fire alarm, I had alarm acknowledged, turned off and pt back in room before first fire truck arrived and I work in what I'd call a fairly decent sized city. I don't know where FD is located but I'd guess not more than 3 miles away

 

[ponyboy]

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.

Supply and demand.

 

[Pmctn]

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.

It says there are far fewer of sports greats than emt's or teachers. But I am sure that if you walked up to the next emt you see and hand them a $100 they will be appreciative.

 

[aristocatz]

Wow, I'm surprised at the extended time. A few years ago, my dad fell in the Epcot parking lot. He is an older fellow. Within minutes, several cast members came out of nowhere to assist him. It was weird because none of us even called for assistance. Maybe they spotted him in a security camera?

 

[gottaluvPluto]

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

Yes it is! My mom was yelling at the 911 people asking why it was taking the ambulance so long. I guess the 911 people radio the cops because we also had three cop cars show up with the ambulance.

That is the night my dad died.

 

[bcla]

This.

The last time I called 911, it took 20 minutes and I live less than a mile from a fire station. I called using a cell phone and the call went to a 911 dispatcher in another city and then they sent responders from a distant location. This is a cell phone problem--not an EMT problem.

I guess it depends on your location. The last time I called to report a disturbed guy in a wheelchair blocking traffic, I was connected from a central call center to the city. It was really odd too, with the dispatcher saying she'd received a call about the same guy and hadn't sent an officer because he may have been in a different city.

 

[LAB81018]

This is an issue all over the country. Emergency services have not been updated with technology to keep up with the shift to cell phone usage and cutting of landlines.

Last month John Oliver covered this in the main segment on his show. Among the highlights:

Dominos has more updated technology to find you than 911

a Kansas City reporter doing a segment about this issue, standing in the manager's office above the 911 dispatch floor, called 911 and asked them to locate him. Operator indicated that he was at an address a mile away.

I would link it, but NSFW so you can watch it on youtube. Funny and incredibly scary at the same time.

 

[manning]

Oh great, about 4 years back I had cardiac arrest. The first 5 minutes are crucial. You wouldn't stand a chance at Disney. I survived and EMT got to ME a little over 5 minutes. Lucky someone knowing what to do gave me CPR

For anyone who didn't get the training start it right away. Don't worry about breaking ribs. You give it to the beat of the Gibbs Brothers song " Staying alive"

Uh uh uh uh staying alive staying alive.

Here are the present guide lines

• 
  In October, 2010 the American Heart Association issued new guidelines for the performance of CPR. The major change compared to the prior guidelines is to start with chest compressions rather than ventilations. Thus the new sequence is:
  1. Check for unresponsiveness and lack of breathing or abnormal breathing.
  2. Activate emergency response (call 911 in the US and Canada).
  3. Perform 30 chest compressions - push hard and push fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100 per minute.
  4. If you are trained give 2 ventilation and then alternate 30 compressions with 2 ventilations.
  5. If you are not trained in ventilations continue with chest compressions.

Why did these guidelines change?

• 
  Recent animal and human data suggests that CPR is more likely to succeed if the heart is full of blood, especially just prior to a defibrillatory shock, and the best way to accomplish this is with adequate chest compressions. Since it is very difficult for an untrained persons to perform adequate mouth-to-mouth ventilations it is better that emphasis be placed on continuous chest compressions.

 

[kirstenb1]

We were at Sea World last week, and saw a lady faint up in the bleachers at teh Clyde and Seamore show. There was an employee there immediately (one of the ushers for the show), but it took 10 minutes for an EMT to get there, which really surprised me. Several guests ran immediately to get help, so maybe First Aid is located far away in that park, is all I could think. I asked the usher to find some water and a towel. He brought water, and I had a bandana in my backpack. I asked the lady's sister if it was okay to dip it in the water, and put it on the back of her neck. It was really hot that day, and hopefully she's doing fine.

 

[Realfoodfans]

When my daughter was pregnant we were at HS during a terrific storm - everything closed down and we were sheltering when she said she didn't feel well - I asked a passing CM if there was somewhere nearby to sit - he said no but said is there a problem - I said my daughter didn't feel well - he disappeared and very quickly was in his way back with a wheelchair when she passed out. A guest who was a doctor came rushing over - the CM called for help and very quickly medics arrived it was amazing - we were very impressed and thankful with how she was cared for!

 

[JimMIA]

Oh great, about 4 years back I had cardiac arrest. The first 5 minutes are crucial. You wouldn't stand a chance at Disney. I survived and EMT got to ME a little over 5 minutes. Lucky someone knowing what to do gave me CPR

For anyone who didn't get the training start it right away. Don't worry about breaking ribs. You give it to the beat of the Gibbs Brothers song " Staying alive"

Uh uh uh uh staying alive staying alive.

Here are the present guide lines

• 
  In October, 2010 the American Heart Association issued new guidelines for the performance of CPR. The major change compared to the prior guidelines is to start with chest compressions rather than ventilations. Thus the new sequence is:
  1. Check for unresponsiveness and lack of breathing or abnormal breathing.
  2. Activate emergency response (call 911 in the US and Canada).
  3. Perform 30 chest compressions - push hard and push fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100 per minute.
  4. If you are trained give 2 ventilation and then alternate 30 compressions with 2 ventilations.
  5. If you are not trained in ventilations continue with chest compressions.

Why did these guidelines change?

• 
  Recent animal and human data suggests that CPR is more likely to succeed if the heart is full of blood, especially just prior to a defibrillatory shock, and the best way to accomplish this is with adequate chest compressions. Since it is very difficult for an untrained persons to perform adequate mouth-to-mouth ventilations it is better that emphasis be placed on continuous chest compressions.

Good info for everyone to have, and the BeeGees "Stayin' Alive" is exactly what I play when I teach CPR! AHA recommends at least 100 compressions per minute and Stayin Alive is almost exactly 100 bpm.

The key is hard and fast, and allow full chest recoil so the heart can reload. If you keep continuous pressure on the heart by not fully releasing the compressions, it can't refill properly.

*****
The main reason why AHA changed the guidelines, though, is that research showed a huge majority of people would not do CPR because of their reluctance to do mouth-to-mouth. If they do nothing, the patient dies. So AHA simply removed the part people were reluctant to do and made it "OK" to do compressions only.

Compressions alone are quite effective, for a number of reasons. Most important is the fact that the body does not use up all of the oxygen during the breathing cycle. The air we inhale contains 21% O2; our exhaled air contains 16% O2 (which is why mouth-to-mouth works). So the air remaining in our lungs when we are not breathing still contains oxygen. If we can keep the blood circulating through the lungs, it will pick up O2 there and carry it to the rest of the body.

 

[Dentam]

It says there are far fewer of sports greats than emt's or teachers. But I am sure that if you walked up to the next emt you see and hand them a $100 they will be appreciative.

I guess you're assuming that I make more than an EMT which is not the case. I struggle just to make ends meet in my high cost of living city. There are plenty of us in the middle class who work hard and barely get anywhere. That's what I was getting at.

 

[verleniahall]

15 miuntes is slow?? I know sometimes it can be a 30-40 minute wait for an ambulance where we lived on Fort Lewis!

Here - a quick resonse is abotu 20-25 minutes

 

[JimMIA]

15 miuntes is slow?? I know sometimes it can be a 30-40 minute wait for an ambulance where we lived on Fort Lewis!

Here - a quick resonse is abotu 20-25 minutes

I gotta tell you -- that is really awful response time. Where in the world are the responding units coming from? They can't be coming from on-base.

When I worked in a remote wilderness location, our nearest regular fire station was 22 miles away, and our nearest rescue unit (the one I rode with) was 25 miles away. Their response times were about 27-30 minutes from first ring at 911 -- first the engine and then the rescue right behind them. But...if Air Rescue responded from about 35 miles away, their response time was about 20 minutes, so they'd often arrive first and cancel the ground units just as they got close.

 

[verleniahall]

I gotta tell you -- that is really awful response time. Where in the world are the responding units coming from? They can't be coming from on-base.

Yup they were! One of the first things I was told was never to call for an ambulance - that I could drive all the way across base, even with red lights, and be quicker than the ambulance just to get to us

 

[pfalcioni]

I gotta tell you -- that is really awful response time. Where in the world are the responding units coming from? They can't be coming from on-base.

When I worked in a remote wilderness location, our nearest regular fire station was 22 miles away, and our nearest rescue unit (the one I rode with) was 25 miles away. Their response times were about 27-30 minutes from first ring at 911 -- first the engine and then the rescue right behind them. But...if Air Rescue responded from about 35 miles away, their response time was about 20 minutes, so they'd often arrive first and cancel the ground units just as they got close.

The rescue units could average 50-60 mph during the entire 22 - 25 mile drive?