DEL.ICIO.USWidespread problems found at Fulton 911
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 05, 2008
The staff of Fulton County’s 911 center has caused scores of mistakes in recent years that at times endangered those seeking help and the emergency crews sent to provide aid, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation has found.
A review of nearly five years of call-center disciplinary records reveals instances of insubordination, fighting, sleeping on the job, tardiness and absenteeism. Dispatchers who are required to meet monthly standards of efficiency often failed to meet them, according to records obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act.
LOUIE FAVORITE / lfavorite@ajc.com
A review of records shows that during an almost five-year period, about 1,100 personnel actions have been taken against employees at the Fulton County 911 call center. Since 2003, nine workers have been fired.
Darlene Dukes, 39, died on Aug. 2 from a blood clot to her lungs after an ambulance was initially dispatched to the wrong address.
These problems were commonplace long before an operator on Aug. 2 misdirected help to a Johns Creek woman who later died. Darlene Dukes, a 39-year-old mother of two, died of a pulmonary embolism after, officials say, dispatcher Gina Conteh mistakenly sent emergency crews to southwest Atlanta, delaying help by 25 minutes. The woman called 911 complaining of difficulty breathing. Conteh’s error sent emergency aid about eight miles away, officials say, before she corrected it.
A database shows that since January 2004, supervisors have written up employees for infractions almost 1,100 times. That’s an average of 24 per month for a center with 109 full-time and five temporary positions.
Since Duke’s death, Conteh has been fired and longtime 911 Director Alfred “Rocky” Moore reassigned. The county manager has hired consultants to review the center, and officials have reassured the public that the center can be trusted. Conteh is appealing; a hearing is set for Oct. 30.
Current employees were warned in writing by interim Director Crystal Williams not to discuss the center with the news media. Those that did said the department had many problems but asked not to be quoted for fear of reprisal. Williams declined to comment.
Former employees said understaffing forces many to work double shifts, leaving them exhausted and prone to mistakes or irritability.
“When you call Fulton 911, you are taking your chances, really,” said Cassandra Eloi, an operator who was fired in July after supervisors repeatedly found her to have been rude to callers. “The morale at the place is so low that employees don’t even care.”
Though the AJC reviewed almost 1,100 personnel actions, the number of incidents is much greater because center supervisors often sweep five or more infractions into a single citation. And county officials acknowledge the database they use to track disciplinary notices is incomplete.
County Manager Zachary Williams said Fulton must make major changes at the call center.
“I don’t need them to tell me folks sleeping on the job is a problem,” said Williams, no relation to Crystal Williams. “I can assure you we are looking at the entire system for the root cause of these behaviors.”
Williams hired Oregon-based consultants after the death of Dukes. Their report could be ready this month.
As for elected officials, Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley said the call center should be the best emergency response center “money can buy. We have obviously received evidence that is not the case.” Commissioners Thomas Lowe and Nancy Boxhill both said they were waiting for the consultant’s report before commenting.
The AJC found call takers and dispatchers were rarely punished to the full extent of original recommendations. According to department records, since 2003 the department tried to fire people at least 20 times, but only succeeded nine times. Often cases where suspensions were threatened were reduced to written warnings. Often written warnings were reduced to “verbal counseling.”
Of the 41 instances in which employees were orally abusive, fighting or being unprofessional or disruptive, only 10 incidents resulted in suspensions.
In one instance in the records, a worker shouted to an emergency responder that they had called the wrong jurisdiction and hung up. In another instance, a burglar alarm call was put on hold for about a half an hour. In another, a worker did not pick up a call because she was asleep.
Some of the incidents just disrupted the center. Others potentially endangered lives. Some examples:
On Dec. 8, 2002, dispatcher Cardell Shelton sent police to an incident at Azalea Park Apartments in Dunwoody, notifying police it was a routine burglary call. Instead, an armed intruder was in a home, and the panicked caller was yelling about a confrontation between her boyfriend and the man. When police arrived, they found the woman naked, bound and stuffed in a closet. The boyfriend was dead on the living room floor.
Shelton was suspended for sending police into a dangerous situation without properly informing them. He could not be reached for comment.
On March 19 of this year, Williesa Toomer took a call from a 16-year-old boy who said his father had just shot his mother. Toomer didn’t pass on critical information to police and fire officials about how the woman wasn’t breathing and the son had tried to revive her but stopped when the sight of blood made him throw up. A few minutes later, a sister of the alleged shooter called 911.
The woman told Toomer that the man had threatened his wife the day before. Toomer did not tell dispatchers this information, despite department regulations to do so.
She then told the woman her sister-in-law was not breathing, another violation of regulations. Toomer received a written warning. In the nine months before the shooting, Toomer had received nine disciplinary notices. Each time, Toomer’s superiors meted out “written warnings” or “verbal counseling.” Toomer declined to comment on the incident.
On May 26, communications officer Francesca Pearson took a call from an elderly man who had fallen outside his house on Mount Vernon Highway.
“I need help, help,” he told her, but spoke with a thick accent, according to department records. Pearson refused to send help and according to a report was “very curt, discourteous and unprofessional to the caller.” When help eventually was sent, the man was found injured.
Pearson had at least six disciplinary write-ups this year for failures in performance and other problems. In all the previous cases, she received written warnings or oral counseling.
This time, about five weeks after the incident, she was suspended for one eight-hour shift. She could not be reached for comment. The AJC e-mailed a county spokeswoman asking to speak with Pearson and others. Neither the county nor the staff responded.
Eloi, the fired former call center worker, said people at the center have stopped caring about the critical service they are providing.
“People come in just to get a paycheck,” she said.
Data specialist Megan Clarke contributed to this report.
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