Chalk one up for the AED

[Oscar]

My wife & I are leaving snowy ND and going to FL in a couple days - I came across this while looking for touristy stuff 8) .

This is a rather long article. I don't know enough to comment on whether the ball was dropped and if so, by whom. Bottom line: The pt. appears to have been very fortunate to have had access to early CPR and defibrillation.

[web:0b28671784]http://thebocanuttelegraph.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/a-terrible-mistake-islanders-life-saved-but-lee-911-comes-under-fire-from-boca-bay/#more-199[/web:0b28671784]

[Richard B the EMT]

As usual, I'm going to look at this with my Noo Yawk mindset, which might give false readings outside of my state of residence and mind.

I used to be a call taker at the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS EMD (pre-merger into FDNY), and if we got 2 or more calls for a location that were in the same hundred number block, like Brooklyn's 212, 214 and 225 Throop Avenue, and we would presume it, if a street side call, to be one and the same.

If the number was significantly different, both locations would be entered as separate jobs. The Computer Assisted Dispatch system would ask the operators if the call was one and the same. Then, it would be a judgment call of the call takers, to "dupe" the call to a similar address, or enter it as a different call.

The Florida call referenced here has both 770 Gulf Blvd, and 500 Gulf Blvd. Not knowing how Florida, or Lee County, addresses run, that seems to be almost 200 numbers difference, and should have been entered as 2 separate assignments into their system.

Regrettably, this could happen within any system, even those with a CAD system.

It did happen, roughly a decade ago, in a main shopping area in Queens county.

We had a bad guys/NYPD running gun battle, with several shot, including some not on either "side", which ran for several blocks. When entered into the systems (NYPD's SPRINT, and EMS' MEDSTAR), initially, only 2 locations were responded to, and several locations in between did not, until people ran up to where the NYPD and/or the EMS went, demanding help for those at the other locations.

Suffice to say, it was a fustercluck, and held the headlines for several days.