9-1-1…reliable? (Amanda Gehrke)

 

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/METRO/801190357/1408/LOCAL

When we were kids, our parents and teachers drilled the numbers 9-1-1 into our heads. We even had school assemblies teaching us which situations warranted the emergency number and what we should say when we called it. While all of this information was important, the one thing I really took away from the education was that once you dialed those magic numbers, even if you just simply dialed and set the phone down, help would come. I have always found comfort in this fact. Unfortunately, I was deceived, as was five-year-old Robert Turner. I am sure he received the same education and reassurance that I did-he listened to his parents, he went to the assemblies, and he practiced dialing the numbers-and when the time came to utilize all of his ‘training,’ he did everything right. Robert Turner came through for his mom. This system, however, did not.

        Because of this 9-1-1 operator’s mistake, a five-year-old boy is without a mother. While I do believe it was ultimately her decision to deceive Robert Turner (telling him there was help on the way) there is a possibility that her judgment was skewed by factors that were out of her control. Among these are her training, her co-workers, and her previous experience with prank calls. These are factors that could affect all operators, potentially creating an incompetent emergency system that lacks the capacity to (indirectly) save lives. It scares me to think that in a world filled with so much fear we must now doubt our trust in the only true help line we have.

        Will the emergency operators eventually become completely unreliable? Will calling 9-1-1 no longer ensure help? Has the system already reached this point? With all of the illness, injury, and disease in this country, I sure as hell hope not.