Delay in forcing front door during medical call reviewed in Florida. Bayshore Fire Department chief says better info from 911 could have brought earlier treatment to dying woman. 911 says no policies will change.

911 call from Norma Stucki.

Article by Pat Gillespie at News-Press.com:

A 911 call in February during which a sick woman died because she couldn’t unlock the front door to her home has prompted the Bayshore Fire Department to try to revamp its policy for such situations.

Bayshore Fire & Rescue Chief Larry Nisbet said he reached out to local fire departments as well as peers from the Executive Fire Officer Program, a federal firefighter training course. He found that few departments have a policy written for forcible entry on medical calls.

“I was kind of surprised. I thought there would be more out there,” he said.

Nisbet said he will be meeting with other local fire departments in coming weeks to put together policies for emergency situations.

The policy review stems from a 911 call Feb. 23 from Norma Stucki, a 72-year-old who was in her upstairs bed coughing and sick.

She told the dispatcher she was home alone in her two-story house at 11500 Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers. She said she would unlock the front door, but she never got there.

EMS and fire crews arrived seven minutes after being dispatched. Because the front door was locked, crews waited outside 14 minutes until a Lee County sheriff’s deputy arrived. When firefighters finally unhinged the front door, Stucki was dead, pronounced so at 12:08 a.m.

Nisbet said an internal review of the call found firefighters acted properly based on the information provided. He said they were taking off the front door’s last hinge when the deputy arrived.

“The guys had acted appropriately based on what they were faced with,” he said. “The information we got from dispatch was a little vague.”

Nisbet said certain information, if relayed to firefighters, might have prompted them to move more quickly. He said if they knew they were at the right house – a ringing doorbell could be heard on an audio recording of Stucki’s 911 call – and if they knew the dispatcher lost contact with the caller, they might have unhinged the door without waiting on law enforcement.

“If some of the information was relayed, we could have gone in there,” he said. “I know my guys, they’re just crushed by this call.”

Ron Stucki, Norma Stucki’s husband, said a policy change won’t bring back his wife. He said he believes more responsibility should fall on dispatch for not properly relaying information to those on the scene.

“My response is I’m angry as hell,” he said. “They had a right to go in – they were called by 911.”

Diane Holm, public information officer for Lee County Public Safety, said the department believes medics acted appropriately. She said a sign on the door that read “Forget about the dog, worry about the owner” with a picture of a gun concerned them, so they called for deputies.

She said the department has finished reviewing the case and hasn’t made changes to policy. But Holm said the department this week hired a deputy director and operations chief – both promoted from within – so it’s possible that could spark a review.

Matt Rechkemmer, the county’s 911 program manager, has said the dispatcher followed policies. He said Friday no dispatch policies will be changed.