Lowell dispatcher fired after Lifeline patient dies

At 8:30 am on April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday an elderly resident of an assisted living home pressed a help button activating a Life Line system. The 911 dispatcher at the Lowell communications center who took the call about the incident from Life Line failed to enter the call into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, did not initially dispatch police and fire, and was recorded speaking to callers in an unprofessional manner has been fired following an internal investigation.

The dispatcher’s failure to properly handle the medical aid call resulted in a delay in dispatching fire fighters to the scene, possibly causing a deadly delay in treatment of the patient. Along with the dispatchers transgressions, communications problems between dispatchers and the private ambulance company as well as issues with “knock-boxes” in the city were high lighted in the internal affairs report released and printed in the Lowell Sun.

More after the break

Normally when a medical aid call is received at the Lowell 911 center, the dispatcher adds the call the to CAD and sends police and fire as well as calling Trinity Ambulance the contract ambulance service for the city. However that morning dispatcher Jason Lumenello did not follow normal procedure, starting a chain of events that resulted in a major delay in the EMT’s providing critical care to the patient. Lumenello only called Trinity dispatch and told them of the call, and did not dispatch any other resources even though the Life Line operator informed him that there was a lock box at the location but had no instructions on how to access it. When a BLS ambulance arrived on scene at the assisted living facility, they were able to speak with the patient through the door, but were not able to gain access to the apartment because the door was locked. The ambulance crew asked their dispatch about the status of Lowell Fire after several minutes, prompting the Trinity dispatcher to call the communications center again. This time a new dispatcher was on duty and was unaware of the medical call. The fire dispatcher then sent a Ladder company to the scene because she was told the call was now a “lock out” with a medical issue. At this point EMT’s on scene had lost contact with the patient and it had been almost 10 minutes from the initial call from Life Line.

When the fire department arrived at the scene, they could not immediately find the ambulance crew due to confusion about the exact location of the call. Once the ladder company located the crew, they quickly realized that they did not have a key to the key box at the location. The officer in charge went to the attached nursing home to try and find someone who would have a key while the other fire fighters went to try and open the door. While waiting for the ladder to arrive, the EMT’s had tried to open the door with the limited resources available to them, however due to it’s construction their efforts were unsuccessful. The fire fighters saw that they too would need special tools to open the door, and had to return to their truck to get them. In this period of time the officer in charge had located a representative in the nursing home who was able to open the door for emergency workers.

Crews rushed into the apartment and found the patient unresponsive on the ground. EMT’s attempting to call for an ALS unit to come to the scene by radio failed to reach their dispatch and were forced to use cell phones to communicate their needs. Paramedics arrived, and despite the best efforts of the EMTs, fire fighters, and medics the patient was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Lawrence General Hospital.

Shortly after the incident the dispatcher on duty for Trinity Ambulance recognized that there had been a major communications break down with the incident and notified his companies supervisors. Similarly the dispatcher who took over for Lumenello quickly noted the difference in call times she was being told by Trinity and Life Line, the lack of a call back number, and the missing CAD entry and notified the shift supervisor. An internal investigation was performed by the Lowell Police Department, and as a result they found that dispatcher Lumenello had not adequately and professionally performed his duties and terminated him immediately.

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