Wrong address causes paramedic delay

Longboat Key Fire Rescue Chief Rich Dickerson said firefighter paramedics were late in arriving to a 911 call at the Longboat Key Club and Resort Harbourside Dining Room Dec. 2 because a flurry of 911 calls received gave conflicting addresses.

Last Wednesday at 7 p.m., a man suddenly collapsed at a Longboat Key Club and Resort Islandside renovation and expansion project appreciation party. When the man fell to the floor in front of about 300 people, several people in the room began calling 911 to report the emergency.

Dickerson said the first call received by the south fire station, which sits less than a half-mile away from the Harbourside Dining Room, was from someone requesting an ambulance at 2110 Harbourside Drive in the Fairway Bay community.

People in attendance complained that Longboat Key Fire Rescue took at least 20 minutes to respond to the call. Dickerson, however, said the response time was delayed but took no more than 10 minutes.

“We could have been there sooner, but we responded to the location given to us by the first caller and had to backtrack,” Dickerson said.

Longboat Key Police Captain Steve Mislyan, the first to arrive on the scene at 3000 Harbourside Drive, confirmed that police dispatch was given the wrong address, which led to the response delay.

The man was not hospitalized and ended up leaving the resort on his own, Mislyan said.

Dickerson urged Key residents to confirm the exact address of their emergency before calling for help, which will avoid paramedic response delays.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].