Once again 9-1-1 failures are in the news
this week;
But this time it wasn't the 9-1-1 Network that failed;
Or was the MLTS/PBX ability to call 9-1-1;
Or the
programming not being correct;
This time, allegedly, it was policy that contributed to the demise
of Samuel Macasieb after he was found with a serious head injury at the
United States postal facility in Oakland California in early November.
After a co-worker discovered Macashieb lying on the floor with
an obvious head injury, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reported on Monday
that 9-1-1 wasn't called for 53 minutes, all due to an internal policy at the
postal facility that requires emergencies, and health issues requiring 9-1-1 to
go through a manager at the facility, who will then summon the United States
postal police, who will then initiate a call to 9-1-1 requesting the appropriate
public safety services.
In a copy of the call recording, crucial information could not be relayed to the dispatcher as they had to talk to someone at the USPS Postal Police, who was communicating with someone via 2-way radio, who was then speaking to yet another person near the victim. This created deadly chain of 'telephone-tag' that is painful to listen too.
While it was not clear immediately from
the story whether 9-1-1 could be dialed from system telephones, or if any were available in the immediate vicinity, several
employees recanted, under the guarantee of remaining anonymous, the USPS written policy and constant reminders that incidents MUST go through the US
postal police.
The US postal police is an agency
underneath the United States police force, that coexists with 30 other agencies
ranging from Amtrak police, to the United States Secret Service, to the US
Capitol police department. They are a federal police agency with full police
powers, however questions are being raised as to their authority to dictate
when 9-1-1 can be dialed, and by whom.
The Investigative Unit at NBC Bay Area
interviewed Augustine Ruiz, a corporate communications manager for the USPS
Bay-Valley District. Included in that District is the Oakland facility. Ruiz
said the 9-1-1 policy exists in order to
summon emergency responders as fast as possible. He noted that cellphone
service can be spotty inside of the five-story concrete building. With the
assistance of the postal police, calls to 9-1-1 can be initiated from a reliable landline phone.
While he defended the USPS policy it was quite obvious by his attitude and body language in this interview that even he was uncomfortable with the ramifications of the policy, and agreed that it may be time to review and change it.
Ruiz reminded that postal police
officers are needed to grant paramedics access to secure areas of the facility, therefore the procedure was justified. While these points are true, and are
often quoted by many entities answering their own 9-1-1 calls, the fact remains that, and is conveniently omitted, most of the time the local resource or person
intercepting or answering these calls to 9-1-1 internally is not trained as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, as is commonly found with 9-1-1 call takers.
As apparently the case here, nearly an
hour may have transpired between the time Macashieb was found, and
9-1-1 was finally summoned according to the telephone records logs. No explanation was given for the delay in notification to 9-1-1, however once emergency services
were dispatched, crews reportedly arrived on scene within seven minutes.
Would
that have made a difference in the outcome? Would Samuel Macasieb be alive
today if medical help reached him 40 minutes sooner? Unfortunately, these are
painful questions that cannot be answered.
What can be stated, is that most likely
due to United States Postal Service policy, the Macasieb family will go through
Christmas this year without Samuel being present, and his wife, his children and his grandchildren
will be reminded of their loss, year after year.
Just 11 1/2 months after Kari Hunt died in the Marshall Texas hotel room when her nine-year-old daughter was unable to
summon help from 9-1-1 because she didn't know to dial nine for an access code,
we lost a loving husband and father and grandfather in California because of a
policy with no apparent reason behind it.
When people tell me "there is no
need for 9-1-1 legislation", I have to ask myself, "if that's correct,
then why do stories like this still show up in the news?"
