Officials are praising 911 dispatchers who used cellphone data and their own intelligence to help first responders save a man’s life.
A dispatcher working at the 911 Center on Middletown Road in Media, Pennsylvania received a call Friday at 8:47 a.m. from a disoriented man suffering from dementia who had fallen in his living room and needed medical help. The caller was unable to tell the dispatcher where he lived however.
The dispatcher kept the man on the phone while other dispatchers used GIS and cellphone data to determine the general area where the victim lived. The center’s fireboard team determined the call was from Chester City, Delaware County.
Responding police officers and EMS arrived in the area but were unable to find the man. The dispatchers then used sirens from the emergency vehicles to guide the rescuers closer to the victim.
“By keeping him on the line we made the suggestion that maybe we can use their sirens in their vehicles or their air horns,” said Mike McGinley, a 911 dispatcher. “If we could hear them in the background we might be able to pinpoint this gentleman’s address.”
The first responders then went door to door and knocked on each house until they eventually found the victim’s home. They then forced themselves inside the home at 9:06 a.m. and found the man. He was taken to the hospital where he is recovering and doing well.
Officials say the incident was an example of how “technology, training and compassion came together to save a life.”
