9-1-1 dispatcher can’t help his own family

I received a 9-1-1 call that caught me off guard— in a way none of the others ever had.

It was a co-worker’s family calling. His brother-in-law was on the line, to be exact. The co-worker’s sister was in cardiac arrest, and the brother-in-law was calling. But, there were THREE of us on the call— the co-worker, the brother-in-law, and me.

Let me explain…

•  The brother-in-law called 9-1-1 for help— from his own phone. I happened to be the one who answered the call.
•  The brother-in-law had my co-worker on speakerphone— from my co-worker’s sister’s phone.

In other words, the brother-in-law made two calls— one to 9-1-1 and the other to a family member (who happened to be my co-worker).

It wasn’t planned that we would all know each other and I would be fielding the call, of course. It was an emergency. It just happened this way.

We could each hear the entire exchange.

I told my work associate— who was at his own house— to hang up and head to the hospital.

“I’m dispatching help. The best thing you can do is to get there and receive them in person while I get their info into the system.” I instructed him, “Go now. Help is on the way…”

He met them at the E.R.

I continued checking in with him. Soon thereafter, I learned his sister didn’t make it.

Life-and-death emergencies like this can always be difficult, but this one was different.