A grieving family left questioning the response time of city paramedics were told yesterday their initial call never went through.
The family was using an Internet phone to call 9-1-1 when their 18-month-old son stopped breathing, but the call never went through to dispatch. Their son later died at the Children’s Hospital.
The incident Tuesday night has prompted officials to warn the public about the use of such phone providers because of the difference in service.
“They believed they were talking to 9-1-1 but they weren’t,” manager of safety communications Curtis Brochu said, adding users should be familiar with their service providers.
When the family waited over 20 minutes they alerted their neighbours who then got through to 9-1-1.
EMS Chief Tom Sampson said EMS received that call at 8:43 p.m. and an ambulance was at the house within six minutes, adding no calls were recorded before that one.
