FDNY Gets Lost

[worlandemt]

A Queens man died from lack of oxygen as confused firefighters circled his house for 37 minutes because they couldn't find the address on their outdated map, The Post has learned.

Tom Gallagher, 69, a retired stationary engineer for Fordham University, was in his bedroom at his Little Neck home on Van Nostrand Court just after 10 p.m. Monday when he lost consciousness, his distraught family said.

While his son tried to revive him, firefighters rushing to his aid drove by his cul de sac several times without spotting the entrance.

Their rig was not equipped with GPS or electronic maps -- which are not installed in any FDNY or EMS vehicles.

Instead, they relied on a 2005 Hagstrom map they keep on their dashboard.

Gallagher's family -- which includes a retired fire chief brother and a retired firefighter nephew -- called 911 at 10:21 p.m. to report a heart attack.

With the nearest ambulance five miles away in Flushing, the FDNY dispatcher alerted Engine Co. 313, located eight blocks from Gallagher's house, straight down Northern Boulevard. Inside the firehouse, a wall map has Van Nostrand Court added in black magic marker.

Engine 313 drove back and forth for several minutes along West End Avenue, which offers access to Van Nostrand Court, witnesses said.

At one point, they took off for a similar address in Van Nostrand Place in Douglaston before doubling back to Little Neck. They showed up 37 minutes after the call was placed.

Gallagher's family was later stunned to learn he had died from lack of oxygen, not a heart attack.

"The doctor said there were no enzymes in the blood indicating a heart attack, no swelling of the head indicating an injury or aneurysm," said his daughter Maura Gallagher, 42.

An ambulance from Flushing Hospital arrived at the house 12 minutes after their emergency call -- six minutes too late to avert brain death. The medics also appeared to be lost, the family said.

Gallagher's wife, Mary, said she had to run to Little Neck Parkway, to flag down the ambulance.

"I don't blame the firefighters for this. They do a lot of brave things, and I respect them," she said. "It was unfortunate the FDNY couldn't find us. Van Nostrand Court needs to be put on a map."

The FDNY said instructions on Van Nostrand Court, a no-car lane dotted with about 30 homes, were being added to the department database.

"We are working right now to make certain there are additional instructions within Fire and EMS systems, so in any future cases, they all have the information to quickly locate this unmarked street," spokesman Steve Ritea said.

The city has no plans to install electronic mapping in fire or EMS rigs, the FDNY said.

Republished with permission of The New York Post.

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[Kiwiology]

FAIL! Throw your outdated map books away and get a bloody GPS!

Turn left, turn right, continue three hundred meters, push analyse, perform a u-turn where possibe, arrive at destination on right, i live my Navman

[stcommodore]

No system is perfect, and when you run hundreds of thousands of calls mistakes happen. My urban system has gps in the front line ems units, and a mapping program on your toughbook shows your location and the grid of the city.Between the two EMS zone dispatchers is a 50in flat screen with all EMS units and different EMS incidents on the screen. In the future they plan "routing" into the system but like I said nothing is perfect.

[EMS49393]

Very true, no system is perfect. We have map books and a GPS in our ambulances, and the GPS almost always gives us problems. Although it locates the address quickly, it often has us come out to streets where left turns are impossible secondary to median barriers, doesn't account for one way streets with much accuracy, and often gives us a route that is much longer in distance and/or time.

In my humble opinion, the best system for preventing this type of error is continual updating of district map books (as opposed to commercial map books). There are numerous programs available to create and update maps, and there is always the old fashion way of drawing out the maps. For years I was on a department that did continuous in service district study and mapping mainly because the growth rate in the area was so fast that this was the only way to insure we had every chance of finding the residence in an emergency. This was not optimal in the high volume urban system I worked in a few years ago, and as such, they employed a person that was solely responsible for map updates for the service area.

Mistakes are going to happen, and this is a prime opportunity to learn from a mistake and try to figure out a way to keep it from happening again.

[tskstorm]

FAIL! Throw your outdated map books away and get a bloody GPS!

Turn left, turn right, continue three hundred meters, push analyse, perform a u-turn where possibe, arrive at destination on right, i live my Navman

Truthfully, GPS units are traditionally unreliable. A good knowledge of your response area is something you should take pride in. You should not need a GPS, maps are good for those once in a while occasions you can't remember or cant find something but should be an exception not the rule.

[NRPinNEPA]

CHEAP GPS units are unreliable. Get a quality product like Garmin and you'll be at the residence before the old school EMT has even found the proper page in the mapbook.

[Kiwiology]

A good knowledge of your response area is better than any GPS or map book ever will be but, for those tricky streets that you do not know a reliable GPS is invaluable esp at night

Street signs behind shrubs, or ones people have nicked for thier apartment, blind buggers like me driving, you know it helps to have the satellite nav

[Kaisu]

I swear by my garmin.. especially in the urban area I am currently running in where when the people move, they take everything, including the house numbers. (and put them on their new residence)

[tskstorm]

CHEAP GPS units are unreliable. Get a quality product like Garmin and you'll be at the residence before the old school EMT has even found the proper page in the mapbook.

I have gone through tom tom, garmin, and others, in dash and portable, ranging from $200 to $1000. I have the same problems with them all. So price has nothing to do with it. Knowing your area, means out of 1000, calls you need the map for 1 or less of those jobs. I have seen too many new providers come in and use gps to every call, including down the block from the hospital, and around the corner from our posting location.

This is very unfortunate, that the CFR's couldn't find the patient, however this is a system failure from jump, why was the nearest ambulance 5 miles away ? Inside the 5 boroughs of NYC that is close to unheard of you can go from the top to bottom of a borough in 8-9 miles, especially, if it came over as a cardiac condition (heart attack) or an unconscious (because we almost always get it as an unconscious) it would be dispatched as a dual response(als and bls) if the ALS was that far away, theory being cfr's can start until bls arrives, bls can continue to start treatment until als arrives. Further I know it was an ALS assignment as FDNY CFR's are only assigned to ALS medical jobs, they also get sent to bls, mva's, needed for entry or to carry etc...

This is one example of many why NYC needs to stop closing hospital and their EMS departments. Our call volume steadily increases, yet the FDNY in its infinite greed, refuses to give more units out to hospitals. They think they can do it all, with a declining budget at that! The last few warm days we were averaging 4200 calls a day, Even in a city with 250+ ambulances, that's still a lot of calls per unit! It is actually overwhelming, too often we hear on the radio, "any units available in the borough I have 5 priority assignments holding, and a total of 12 holding" Had there been more units available this problem would not have occurred.

[HERBIE1]

Mistakes happen. Vanity addresses- buildings with special numbering that honor the company or builder can be confusing. New subdivisions spring up and are not listed on any map. Missing signs, poor lighting, bad or incomplete info from callers, 3rd party calls- there are a million reasons why things like this can happen.

As was mentioned, the best way to avoid these problems is to be familiar with your area. Do REGULAR area familiarization- keep an eye on new developments, buildings, new streets, road closings, etc. It's as much a part of your job as your medical knowledge- you can't help someone unless you reach them in a timely fashion.

For those of us old timers who started long before GPS, ONSTAR, and AVL's, we needed to learn where hospitals were at, nursing homes, the numbering system of the city, major landmarks and tourist attractions. Then, when you were assigned an area you needed to learn details specific to your district- dead ends, one way streets, cul de sacs, new buildings, alternate routes in case of road closures. Depending on your system- if you live in a large area, you can also easily travel great distances when call volume is high, so the more you learn, the better off you will be. It takes time, effort, and experience (just as with the patient care aspect of your job) is critical to being an effective, PROFESSIONAL provider.