I used to work as a 911 dispatcher. I worked in the comm center that handled all of the Fire/Rescue calls for our county. After being hired, I was in training for about a year. One of the things I learned was dealing with alternate street names. We had a highway called US 17/92 that ran through our county and it had several alternate street names. For example, one stretch was called Orlando Drive, another stretch was called French Avenue, etc. The problem was we also had a residential street named French Avenue right off that highway. I was trained to enter the address as US 17/92 rather than one of the alternate street names if someone gave the address as Orlando Drive or French Avenue (because the computer aided dispatch system wouldn’t verify an address by alternate street names). I guess you can already see where this is going.
My first shift after finishing training was an overnight from 7pm-7am. I was assigned to work phones which was my least favorite position after a year of people screaming in my ear and having to repeatedly ask for an address to dispatch units to. That night was thankfully slow. About 2am a woman called about a male patient in his 50s having a stroke. She was fairly calm and gave me the address as soon as I asked. It was on French Avenue. The residential one. Guess what address I entered? In unfathomable odds that I can never beat when playing the lottery, the same numeric of her address on French Avenue also existed on US 17/92. So the computer aided dispatch system verified the address and that’s where the emergency response units were sent.
At 2am it should have taken them 5 minutes max to get on scene. It took 15-20 minutes. They got to the address they were dispatched to and it was a business that was closed. The comm center shift supervisor figured it out but the delay and mistake were obvious to everyone. Soon after they arrived at the house, the paramedics called no code/no vitals. The patient was dead.
I was written up for the delay and, as remedial training, sent to do a ride along with Station 31, the crew that responded to the call. One of the paramedics tried to make me feel better and said the patient had an extensive medical history, was in bad shape, and was probably gone right after she called. Then another paramedic said that the patient took his last breath as soon as he walked in the door. So much for feeling better. At least for a while.
I worked there for about a year after that. The best thing that happened was talking parents of a newborn with a congenital heart defect through CPR after he stopped breathing. He was breathing again as the Rescue was arriving on scene. I held on to that win. After two years, I was burned out and it was time to move on. You have to have a dark sense of humor and a thick skin to do that job. I knew I was getting too jaded after a motel manager called about a deceased elderly woman in a room. It was just before 11 am. I entered the information, turned to the dispatcher and said, “Send them Code 3. She has to be out by 11 or they’ll charge her for another day” Everyone laughed. Yeah, it was time to leave.
Comments
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oh well, never mind
Humans make mistakes, and don’t think a program is salvation, it’s made by humans.
On the other hand… How hard is it to change a street name? Can’t they figure it out better?
Edit : if you want to make it better try to make sure it doesn’t happen again to someone else, talk to your representatives and have street names changed.
A year’s training to just stay for another year is such a bad investment on everyone’s part.
That sucks. But you know what? I wouldn’t say it’s entirely your fault. The people who make maps, come up with street names, etc. need to close these loops that cause such things to happen in the first place. You did your best with a flawed system. Don’t beat yourself up.
It doesn’t really sound like your fault but I know that doesn’t make it any easier. 💜
Okay, it’s out there. We all forgive you. If you were a jerk it wouldn’t bother you at all, but you’re not. A lot of painful stuff has a half life. You can’t go back and you’ve done everything you can since then. Peace.⛵
I don’t think it’s your fault. There was lot at play in very short amount of time, it happens with everyone. Only difference is most people’s job does not include life threatening situations and yours did. It was his time to go. Don’t dwell on it too much.
TLDR
More power to you for putting your feelings out there, seriously. You’re a strong person, and you did nothing wrong. You took a position where you can do the right thing, and something out of your control and frankly silly got the best of you. I’m sure you try to make up for it every single day, being who you are to the people around you, and that’s more than enough.
I actually think to myself all the time about how tough it must be to have one of those jobs. Specifically, I think about first responders getting stuck in traffic, or being routed the wrong way, when every second matters. But it’s easy for me, because the thought starts and ends there, and I can go back to whatever it was I was thinking a second ago. But real people are out there having those exact jobs, every single day, all over the world. It will never be a perfect system, and the people who strive to do good or at least be a part of the solution are seriously what give everyone hope in this world.
OP, I live in an Orlando suburb close to 17/92. 17/92 near me is known as Orlando Ave near Lee Rd and then it changes to Mills Ave near Colonial. When new peeps move into the area, it confuses the hell out of people.
I’m sorry that happened on the job. They should have changed the system to not have that ambiguity.
I’m sorry but your joke was hilarious. I would have laughed, too, even as a random person witnessing this. But seriously, what an experience. I hope you can free yourself of guilt. You only did what you were trained to do in a really stressful situation.
That sounds unbelievably heavy, but the fact that you stayed and still helped save lives says so much about your strength. Mistakes in high pressure jobs like that are heartbreaking, but you’re human and you clearly cared. I hope you’ve found some peace since.
Damn right you need thick skin to do that kinda job. It’s not your fault that your city/department had an incompetent system for identifying street addresses.
Are you still replaying this inside of you, that you were at fault. You must know these things happen thru no actual human fault. You aren’t alone. You must forgive yourself
I retired after 25 years as a police/fire dispatcher. I made the mistake early in my career. You can only do the best with what you are given.
This is lies