In the middle of the pack was the Fulton County E-911 center, which covers Fairburn, Union City, Palmetto, Chattahoochee Hills, South Fulton and unincorporated parts of the county. The center fell short of the industry standard in 2023: only about 84% of calls to Fulton 911 were answered within 20 seconds.
Megan Spence has more experience with 911 than most. The 39-year-old physical therapist cares for patients around metro Atlanta who’ve come home from the hospital, and sometimes they need to be rushed back because of a sudden health setback.
Since the pandemic, Spence says she has had to call 911 frequently, often more than once a month, and estimates she has been put on hold about a half-dozen times.
One of those calls turned into a full-blown crisis. Spence had entered the patient’s home to find her soaked in blood. The woman, recovering from knee surgery, had mistakenly continued to take blood thinner medication against a doctor’s instructions. When Spence dialed 911, she was placed on hold. The patient’s family members panicked, she said, and Spence felt helpless.
“In that situation, there’s nothing I can do,” Spence said. “I can’t make the bleeding stop.”
Eventually, Spence got through and an ambulance arrived. But the experience was harrowing, Spence said. The patient was in the intensive care unit for a month.
From an early age, children learn that 911 is the number to call in an emergency, when every second counts. But, in recent years, emergency communications systems have been strained in communities across the country like never before.
Nationwide, the length of time callers waited for a 911 operator to pick up rose during the pandemic, as agencies struggled to retain staff who can handle the high-stress work that requires a calming voice during a crisis.
“It’s not a job that many people can do,” said April Heinze, chief of 911 operations at the National Emergency Number Association, later adding, “The folks that we do hire…
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