EMTs arrived 30 minutes later
Beth Hahn of the Mountain View Telegraph
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Torrance and Santa Fe county officials are investigating a 911 call to which it took emergency crews about 30 minutes to respond.
Patricia Rogers, a Tennessee resident who grew up in Moriarty, detailed the events surrounding the 911 call - which ended with her mother’s death - in a scathing letter sent to several Albuquerque news organizations.
Rogers claims Santa Fe and Torrance county emergency dispatchers repeatedly gave her father incorrect arrival times for an ambulance while her mother was having a seizure.
Rogers’ letter also states that she filed formal complaints with both counties.
Rogers’ mother, Len Schenker, was being treated with chemotherapy for a brain tumor, according to the letter. Schenker had a round of chemotherapy on Feb. 15, went to lunch with her assistant, went shopping and then went home in Edgewood.
Later that afternoon, Schenker became unconscious and had shallow breathing. Her assistant called 911 and a Santa Fe County dispatcher answered “after three rings,” the letter states.
After hearing the situation, the dispatcher requested an ambulance from a fire station in Edgewood, according to Santa Fe County public information officer Stephen Ulibarri.
An EMT crew was not available in the Edgewood station because of another emergency call, Ulibarri said, so the dispatcher requested assistance from Torrance County.
The first available volunteer EMT crew in Torrance County was in McIntosh, Ulibarri said. That crew was dispatched and left for Edgewood.
In the meantime, Schenker began to have a seizure before EMTs could arrive. She died shortly after EMTs arrived, about 30 minutes after the ini- tial 911 call.
Ulibarri said that the situation was a convergence of several unfortunate factors and that he and other Santa Fe County officials are “deeply saddened” for the loss of Rogers’ mother.
“We are really saddened,” he said Monday. “Our condolences go out to (Rogers) and her family.”
Ulibarri said he listened to a recording of the 911 call and “it was very difficult.”
After reviewing the call, however, Ulibarri said Santa Fe County dispatchers followed protocol and did the best they could.
“Yes it took a while (for EMTs to get to Schenker’s home),” he said. “But from listening to the tape, I don’t think there’s anything the county did wrong.”