EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – A University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) professor alleged that 911 dispatchers placed her on hold for three minutes when she called them as one of her students was having a seizure, she also claimed Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrived at the scene 15 minutes later.
The professor Ruby Montana made the claims in her Facebook page, which prompted many people to weigh in on the comment section. The responses have been divided.
Some people said the late response by dispatch is because people are calling 911 with non-emergencies.
The post was shared on Instagram by the account @therealfitfamelpaso, where it got even more traction and responses. The account shared an anonymous message from a person who claimed to work for the 911 Communications Center and said that they are “extremely short staffed” and are subject to long hours of work.
The message read in-part quote:
“Call takers are not intentionally placing anyone on hold. They’re just taking care of other emergencies.”
The El Paso Fire Department, which is part of the El Paso Regional Command Center that answers the emergency calls, issued a statement following the interactions on social media.
“The 911 Communications Center is aware of the social media post regarding a call being placed on hold. The safety of our community and the service we provide to it are our topmost priority; an investigation is being launched into the incident.”
“Contrary to what has been said on social media, we are always looking for individuals who would like to serve our community, to find out more and apply to the 9-1-1 center please visit join.elpasofire.org.”
The investigation is on-going, we’ll update the story when we have the latest information.
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