Recordings just obtained by KOMO News detail ongoing failures in Snohomish County's 911 response system. One call for help back on March 18 escalated into a lengthy delay.
Debra Teal was driving with her 6-year-old son Gage when she was rear-ended while turning onto 132nd St SE in Everett. Her son hurt his head, so she pulled into a Walgreens parking lot to wait for police and medics.
"So as they are checking out my son," Teal said. "He's doing OK after complaining that his head hurts, but then all of a sudden the medic falls on the ground. So the medic is having a seizure!"
At that point, medics called for more medic units, and that's where this emergency exposed problems with the New World dispatch system.
SNOPAC, the call center that handles emergencies in Everett and south Snohomish County, converted to New World late last year. In situations where every second counts, New World has led to response time delays. It can range from crews being sent to a wrong address, no crews being sent at all, or first responders are dispatched to an emergency even though closer units are available.
In the case of the firefighter suffering the seizure, initially no back up crew was sent at all.
"And everyone is just sitting here waiting," Teal said. "And the medics are looking at each other, and just holding their guy saying, 'Hey where are your guys at? Where are your guys at?'"