Mayor & Council Members-
The audio footage that I played tonight at the council meeting was provided to me in an open records request that I made to the City of Dunwoody and ChatComm relating to an 911 EMS call that was placed to ChatComm on January 8, 2014 by a 79 year old lady (Mrs. Maxine McQuaig) who was experiencing shortness of breath. The call took over 5 minutes (according to the audio provided to me by ChatComm) before EMS was finally dispatched to her home by DeKalb 911 after multiple interrogations by ChatComm and DeKalb. She was transported to St. Joseph Hospital where she spent two nights.
ChatComm did not follow procedures on two instances: 1) They failed to begin medical interrogation (EMD) after the transfer to DeKalb took longer than three rings or thirteen seconds (there was a 1 minute and 20 delay during which time the voice message prompted the caller to “not hang up”) and 2) they failed to dispatch the Dunwoody Police to the home as specified in the protocol.
I am providing you herewith the following data:
1) The annotated copy of the audio of the 911 Call to ChatComm by Mrs. McQuaig (link below);
2) The annotated copy of the ChatComm Communication Center Standard Operating Procedures for Trasferring City of Dunwoody Fire/EMS calls (attached);
3) The copy of the chain of e-mails between myself and the assistant city clerk (Lillie Read who has been very responsive to my request) (attached); and,
4) An uninterrupted copy of the audio that you heard tonight at the council meeting (attached).
You will notice in the string of e-mails wherein I requested clarification about whether or not the Dunwoody Police were dispatched and after investigating Ms. Read responded that “That no Dunwoody Police were dispatched to the scene as the incident was being handled by DeKalb County.” (Note item number 6 on the Procedures Document).
In viewing the video and listening to the audio, you will find that it took 1 minute and 20 second from the time the call taker at ChatComm hit the “One Button Transfer” until DeKalb 911 finally picked up the call. According to the Procedures Document (see Item number 8) the ChatComm Call Taker should have begun EMD interrogation of the caller. He did not.
Mrs. McQuaig lives exactly one mile from Fire Station 18. To the credit of DeKalb Fire/EMS, they arrived on the scene 2 minutes from the time the dispatch was finally received into their station.
Mrs. McQuaig fortunately was not having a heart attack (as shortness of breath indicates according to my discussions with a Emergency Room Doctor with over twenty years experience). She was taken to St. Joseph Hospital where it was determined that she had internal bleeding. You should note that Mrs. McQuaig is a registered nurse with some 50 years of experience. I met with her on Saturday and she recalled to me that she thought she was going to pass out while on the phone with the two 911 operators. She is an intelligent and well spoken person (as you may have seen in her letter to the editor of The Crier Newspaper) and was greatly offended by the correction in the paper that refuted her recollection of being placed on hold by ChatComm. When you listen to the audio, the ChatComm call taker clearly states “hang on one moment while I get DeKalb County for fire and dispatch.” From her perspective she was placed on hold by ChatComm and the time between that comment and the time the DeKalb call taker picked up the call, she was being placed on hold by ChatComm.
It turns out that both Mrs. McQuaig and Chief Grogan could both correct. Mrs. McQuaig was put on hold by ChatComm and the long delay in answering the call was caused by DeKalb 911 not answering the call promptly. I think Chief Grogan needs to contact Mrs. McQuaig and apologize because in her mind the correction in The Crier called her integrity into question.
In reality the delay in response was primarily caused by the continued delay by the Dunwoody staff (City Manager Hutmacher) to implement the CAD to CAD interface between ChatComm and DeKalb 911for nearly three years that would have eliminated 4 minutes of interrogation and hold time for Mrs. McQuaig. I call again for him to be held responsible for this and potentially the other 10,000 Fire and EMS calls that our community has had to experience (similar holds, double interrogations and potentially life threatening moments) that were not necessary if he had done his job and placed this as a priority item (as he indicated to the council that he was doing).
Respectively submitted,
Danny Ross
Founding Member
Dunwoody City Council (Retired)
