ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta is making changes to the Atlanta BeltLine that are intended to help paramedics respond to emergencies faster.
These changes come after a woman says she waited more than an hour for an ambulance that never showed up.
Metro Atlanta chiropractor Summer Turner says she was riding a scooter along the BeltLine when someone cut in front of her, causing her to fall off and hit her head on the concrete.
“Honestly, I’m lucky it wasn’t more severe because if it had been, who knows,” Turner told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden.
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Police at the scene were also in disbelief at how long it took for EMS to respond.
“I don’t know what to do. This looks really bad on us that somebody who’s just bleeding and for over an hour plus and then we all of us are just sitting here,” officers can be heard saying on body camera footage obtained by Channel 2.
Seiden brought the incident to Councilman Dustin Hillis’ attention. Hillis also serves as the chairman of the city’s Public Safety Committee.
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Earlier this week, members of the committee met with Grady EMS to discuss possible solutions to improve response times when responding to emergencies on the BeltLine.
One of the proposed changes would be color coded mile markers so 911 callers would be able to give dispatch a precise location.
A spokeswoman for Atlanta Fire Rescue said it took nearly 40 minutes for firefighters to arrive at the scene because dispatchers gave them the wrong address.
A spokesman for Grady EMS says major staffing shortages have contributed to longer response times, but say they are working hard to fill their vacancies.
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