Woman says 911 dispatcher trivialized her emergency

WHITFIELD COUNTY, Ga. — A woman says when she called 911 for help, they told her she didn't have an emergency.

The Dalton family says this situation could have had serious consequences.
 
"All of a sudden, I'm to the floor in cringing pain," Dana Swinney told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh. "All I can do is scream, 'Help me, help me, somebody, God help me.'"
 
Swinney showed Kavanaugh where she collapsed in pain inside her home, on Oct. 23.  Less than 24 hours later, she was having surgery to remove her appendix, but at first had no idea what was wrong.
 
"I got the dispatcher and I told them, I said, 'My daughter-in-law has fell to the floor in severe pain' and I said, 'I need an ambulance,'" said mother-in-law Elizabeth Cochran.

Cochran says she waited and called 911 again.
 
"He said, 'We don't consider that an emergency' and I'm like, 'Excuse me?'" Cochran said.
 
"If they don't get here what's going to happen?" said Swinney.
 
Cochran said she couldn't take Swinney to the hospital herself because she had to watch her grandchild, so she called her father to take Swinney to the hospital.
 
"By the time the ambulance came (after) my first call, she was already in the ER getting fluid," Cochran said.
 
Kavanaugh asked Whitfield County officials about their response. A spokesperson emailed their report of the call.  They said they received the 911 call at 4:54 p.m., dispatched an ambulance at 4:58 p.m., at 5:10 p.m. their call log shows the ambulance was leaving the scene-- all within less than 15 minutes.

The county said they did process this call as a Level 2, which means they would dispatch an ambulance crew as soon as possible, "but they will drive in a non-emergency manner, meaning they will not be utilizing lights and sirens." 

They said they were characterizing the call, not the situation. 
 
"I was angry, they should have showed up sooner," Cochran said.

WSBTV