I used to work as a 911
operator in a large urban area. One night shift I worked, at around 3:00 a.m.,
I answered a call from an elderly woman.
She told me she didn’t feel
well. I tried several times to illicit more information from her. Was she
having chest pains, trouble breathing etc.?
The only response I got was
her stating over and over again she was not feeling well. She did give her
address and phone number. She also volunteered that she was alone and her front
door was unlocked.
She said when the paramedics
arrived they should walk right in.
I put the call out as a
“general illness” and continued to talk to her. After several minutes she told
me in a weak voice, “ I don’t feel well.” She then stated, “She needed to go to
the bathroom.”
I tried to encourage her to
stay on the line but I heard her put the phone down. Every few minutes I called
her name but received no response.
Eventually a firefighter whom
had been dispatched to the callers’ home came on the line. He asked if the call
had come in from a third party or family member. I replied “no.”
He sounded puzzled as he told
me they had found an elderly lady in the bathroom. I told him that was the lady
who had made the call. He slowly stated “no” and then informed me that the lady in
the bathroom had been dead for at least 12 hours. That rigor had set in.
Afterwards my supervisor and
I pulled the tapes on this call to see if I had missed something. We checked
the timestamp, address and phone number. No one else was in the home.
My only explanation is I took
a call from a dead woman.
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