All over the world in different fields of service, there are people whose job is to oversee the workings of everyone else. They give the green lights, the red lights, adjustments, and manage entire crews. These individuals are vital to many job fields all around be it in the transportation field, law enforcement, trucking companies, and many others.
I’m talking about our all-so-important dispatcher role. These guys and gals are responsible for making sure things run as smoothly as possible, and when things get rough, they excel at adapting and thinking on their toes. Not only do they give commands and guide their crew, but they are also responsible for work that goes on behind the scenes such as taking notes, paperwork, talking to customers or clients, and so much more. In short, you could say that they have great responsibility since they must make confident important decisions almost always on their own.
The responsibility they take up is so large that they can never let anything go on the job or be too relaxed. They must stay on their toes and be on the highest alert. Failing to answer or act on one single call could mean life or death to someone or could have a large negative impact on the company, and that’s what this Pennsylvania 911 operator is experiencing.
A Greene County investigator last week documented charges against Leon Price, 50, of Waynesburg, in the July 2020 demise of Diania Kronk, 54, in light of Price’s hesitance to dispatch help without getting more confirmation that Kronk would really need to go to the clinic.
Kronk’s daughter, Kelly Titchenell says she truly believes her mother would be alive today if she had been sent an ambulance when she needed one.
In addition to this costly slip-up, Pirce was summoned on June 29 and released on bail. He didn’t answer any messages left at a home phone number recorded in his name, and authorities said a defense lawyer has not made contact with the district court.
In the 911 recording, Titchenell can be heard desperately saying her mom needs help and is urgently needing an ambulance to take her to the hospital to which Price responded by asking if she was “willing to go” to the hospital even though it’s about a half an hour away from where she was currently was which was at her house in Sycamore.
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Titchenell taking things into her own hands responded by saying: “She will be, ’cause I’m on my way there, so she’s going, or she’s going to die.”
The call went on for a while with Price saying they would send an ambulance, but she needed to make sure that she’d be ‘willing to go’ since it’s far away, and Titchenell repeatedly affirming she would go. Instead of going in circles, Price could have jumped on the ball and perhaps avoided landing in hot water, and maybe saved a life in turn making him a hero. That’s why dispatching is so vital, and the ones in this role have a big responsibility as mentioned earlier.
Titchenell, on behalf of her mom’s bequest, sued Price and Greene County in Pittsburgh government court last month, alongside two 911 supervisors. The claim blames Price for the “callous refusal of public emergency medical services.”
However, Marie Milie Jones, a legal counselor for the region and 911 supervisors in the government case, said her clients plan to overwhelmingly represent the claim and don’t really accept that they are responsible for Kronk’s demise. She noted that there are “personal matters that are ongoing” in regard to Price but declined to elaborate.
“It’s unfortunate that this woman had died. Certainly, from a personal standpoint, that’s very difficult. I’m not going to comment on the details of her circumstances,” she added.
The investigation is ongoing, and at some point, Titchenell had told Price that her mother had been drinking vigorously for the last few weeks before she kicked the bucket and that Titchenell had noticed that she was starting to lose a lot of weight before “turning yellow.” She said the post-mortem concluded that Kronk, who worked from home for medical care, passed away due to internal bleeding.