By EMS1 Staff
WASHINGTON — A mother claims she was forced to drive her toddler to the hospital after the ambulance she called for never arrived.
FOX5DC.com reported that Paulette Liverpool’s son, Kodi, was having an asthma attack when she called 911 on Saturday. After waiting for more than 20 minutes, she decided to take her son to the hospital herself.
According to Alan Etter, D.C. Office of Unified Communications spokesman, there was a mistake made by a 911 dispatcher; the dispatcher put in the wrong address.
“I said, ‘No, it’s Galveston Street,’” Liverpool said. “She did say ‘Place’ to me, but I said, ‘No, it’s Galveston Street.’ I corrected her.”
In audio of the call, a dispatcher is heard saying “Galveston Place.”
“We are not [placing] blame on anyone but ourselves in this case,” Etter said. “What we try to do is stay on the call until helps gets there. That did not happen in this case.”
An investigation of the incident is underway.
“We made a mistake and we regret making the mistake,” Etter said. “We are taking the proper steps to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore.”
Etter did not say if the dispatcher is facing discipline after the incident.