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Incident at Park Street leaves witness shaken
By adamg on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 12:53pm
ED NOTE: Jacqueline Church filed a complaint with the MBTA over events she witnessed on a southbound Red Line train at Park Street around 3:15 p.m. yesterday. The following is an edited copy of her complaint, which she prefaced with: "Seeing someone nearly die in front of you can really put a damper on your day. Watching public transportation employees impede swift care, then deny the need for better emergency medical procedures, is worse. Then having no one in subsequent calls show one iota of accountability or sense of responsibility is infuriating. As a taxpayer I'm incensed. As a human being, I'm disgusted." The MBTA responds.
Not only did the driver NOT call 911 when another passenger and I informed him there was a medical emergency, he did not tell me, STANDING THERE WITH A CELLPHONE IN MY HAND, what he was doing. I asked him "ARE YOU CALLING 911?" His reply "We're not allowed."
SHOULD I CALL?
"We can't call."
So I called. I am shocked that in a medical emergency - the driver wasted critical minutes - the man in the third car was completely unresponsive with his eyes rolled back in his head - could have been having a stroke.
I then went upstairs to try to find an MBTA employee. Checked two or three booths. NOT ONE SINGLE EMPLOYEE WAS ON THAT PLATFORM. I could not find anyone. What if I'd needed their assistance or couldn't call 911 myself? What if there were someone with a gun or a bomb? Back and forth. ... NOT ONE SINGLE employee in sight.
It sounded to me like the train moved on.
I called the main number to complain about this egregious procedural delay in an emergency situation and the woman simply passed my call on. After holding I got the next 911 officer. He heard the situation and connected me back to the MBTA Red Line supervisor. A line he said he could not give me the number to, but could transfer me back to.
I got another woman who did not ID herself and said "the driver did the right thing to call us, call dispatch." So your Dispatcher and your Supervisors are the same people?
She did take my number to call me back as our connection was bad. But the call dropped and she has NOT called me back.
I'm completely flabbergasted, shocked, dismayed, frustrated. It is obvious that the MBTA cares more about "procedures" than about the health and safety of its passengers, for that matter even of its employees. Had I been a lunatic with a gun on the platform, employees as well as riders could have been injured or worse while some good citizen went looking for any employee.
Regardless of whether the man on my Red Line train today ended up being okay in the end, the issues I raise are still completely valid and larger than this particular case:
- The procedure for handling a medical emergency is flawed resulting in delay of medical care in an emergency.
- The training of employees is deeply flawed when it is clear they are more concerned about keeping to a schedule or procedure than they are about the health and safety of passengers.
- The mechanism for riders to voice concerns is flawed. I could not skip through the phone tree by pressing "0" - I could not get to the right person. I could not get a supervisor who seemed to care about the issues I was raising.
- NOT one employee gave me their name.
- Staffing is wrong when there is NO single employee at the beginning of rush hour in ANY of the booths at a major T stop like Park Street Station.
I feel fairly confident after this day's multiple attempts to find ONE SINGLE person who felt ANY ACCOUNTABILITY. But I have to at least do what I can to address these issues.
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Comments
The MBTA replies
Church forwards this reply from an MBTA official:
could've been a seizure
A supervisor was also called to the scene, interviewed the passenger to determine if he needed medical and he said he was fine. It appears he was sleeping.
As would someone who is 'flying under the radar' with seizures. Also, I vaguely remember an incident last year where a T employee declared someone "just asleep"...anyone remember that?
Anyway...doctors are required to report patients who have seizures and a driver's license to the RMV. Bam, there goes your job if you need to drive to work. I have a friend who used to work a job where if they found out he had seizures, he would be disqualified from working.
Also, it's generally not required to go to the hospital if you have a diagnosed condition that causes the seizures and they're mild...
seizures
Most of the time the conditions that cause epilepsy can be treated and the person can retain a driver's license. My brother is such a person. He hasn't had an episode in many years because of medication.
that's great
And if you don't have medical coverage, and can't afford the hideously expensive drugs?
Guess what happens when you show up in the ER with a seizure and the doctor finds out you're not treating it and don't intend to? And guess how much that ER visit costs you?
Happens to homeless people all the time.
They pay nothing to the ER and get all the services anyone else would get. A lot of junkies get loads of expensive ER care for nothing.
Getting long term seizure medication is another thing. But MA health helps out I believe.
I don't disagree that the
I don't disagree that the state of health care in this country is hideous.
But, excuse me, why should a person with untreated epilepsy be allowed to drive? Are you willing to take responsibility for the injuries caused when that person has an episode behind the wheel?
Fuck their job. What about their and other people's lives?
Seizures and medical attention
A year ago I was in the Brigham ana Womens pharmacy arguing with the dopes that work there about a simple problem that could have been solved by a simple phone call. I was seated in my wheel chair, my teenage son by my side telling me to calm down. The next thing I remember was waking up MANY hours later in a hospital room. I had a seizure that totally knocked me out for several hours and I do not remember one thing about it. Had I been anywhere else but the hospital, I probably would have suffered lasting brain damage. As you said, my driving license was revoked, obstensibly for 6 months, but the RMV decided not to renew it...ever.
So when you make light of medical intervention when someone is seizing, you are doing everyone with a seizure disorder a disservice. Please understand that seizures are not common and that anyone who has a seizure should have medical attention. That is what neurologists are for!
Unresponsive responses
For the record: I DID call 9-1-1 right as I determined whatever the driver was doing was causing a delay. Thank you for noting below.
The other thing that upset me, is that this response is completely incorrect. The driver did not "interview" the man and find he was just "sleeping." He (followed by me and the other passenger who left to get help in tow) went back to the car and only looked at the man through the window. The driver then said "he's fine" and I realized he was not going to do anything but move the train. THAT is when I went upstairs to find no one home in any of the booths, nor on the platform. I heard the train moving as I was searching for an employee upstairs. I find it impossible to imagine that another employee materialized in those few minute, interviewed that passenger and then ok'd the train to continue, as they seem to imply.
I'm sorry I didn't make this clearer, i was so thoroughly upset and disgusted, I fired off the complaint fairly certain that it would get exactly this type of response.
In fact, the response, claiming "fully investigated" incident shot back to my email in VERY short order. I find it incredulous that they could have spoken to all the players involved in that short period.
Finally, and I will let this go, there was no answer to the other question, as you also note, about the utter lack of staffing upstairs.
Thanks for helping me bring this to light. We consumers and passengers deserve better. I hope that passenger was fine, but the issue is larger than that one person. It is the duty of care the public transportation system owes Boston travelers and fails to meet.
The employees upstairs at
The employees upstairs at Park St. are all Green Line, the Red Line inspector at Park St. is usually located in the booth in the center platform downstairs. It certainly seems plausible that someone could make it from that booth to a train in the same time it would take someone to run upstairs to the Green Line level.
They say in their response that the dispatcher log has an entry at 3:16 PM, ask for a copy of the log. If the entry is in there, then that meant somebody did radio it in to the dispatcher. The dispatchers are supervisors. It's the dispatchers who have a hot line to Boston Fire and Boston EMS.
why didnt you call 911?
i understand her frustration at the conductors lack of sympathy but what stopped her from calling right away? she blames the driver for wasting critical moments but isnt that exactly what she did? if im wrong im sure someone will straighten me out.
from her post:
from her post: "So I called."
take a look, it's up there
from her post
"Not only did the driver NOT call 911 when another passenger and I informed him there was a medical emergency, he did not tell me, STANDING THERE WITH A CELLPHONE IN MY HAND, what he was doing. I asked him "ARE YOU CALLING 911?" His reply "We're not allowed."
SHOULD I CALL?"
um, duh, maybe you should call. if you saw a person get run over by a car and there was a cop standing nearby would you walk over to the cop and tell him to call the proper authorities? what if the 30 seconds it took to get to the cop was the difference in saving the persons life? if you have a phone, call 911 and then go deal with the asshole driving the train.
In case you hadn't noticed...
Cell phone reception on the Red Line--even on the platform at Park Street--is marginal, at best. The writer may have (very reasonably) assumed she wouldn't be able to get a connection in order to make the call, and that the conductor call over the radio was the most reliable way to summon help.
Actually, cell phone
Actually, cell phone connection to 911 is somewhat slow. It has to get routed through the state dispatch center. Obviously, every situation is different, but it could possibly take longer than 30 seconds to get connected to a local 911 dispatch center. Not to mention the time for the dispatcher to find the closest available responder and radio them. By walking over to the officer, you can immediately engage his resources.
Actually...
In the tunnel at Park St. 911 calls go directly to BPD- not through State Police
It depends on the exact
It depends on the exact circumstances of course, but I probably would go for the train operator before calling 911. The operator is right there and (I assume) more familiar with what can/should be done for the person given their location and what's available on the train. Not to mention that if they don't notify the train operator first the train might well leave the station with the sick person still on board and 911 thinking that the emergency is in the wrong place.
I was confused at first too
but she does say she called (it's after the "We can't call" line).
You aren't wrong
I agree with you -- she could or should have called 911 immediately if she thought the situation to be that dire. But there is a legitimate issue here, which is one of customer relations. The driver should have explained that he already had called it in according to standard procedure. That would have avoided an unnecessary call to 911 and provided a more satisfactory experience to the witness.
I did call
Please review but note that I called 9-1-1 just as soon as I heard the driver clarify he was not.
Church's bad luck
She runs into the one MBTA employee who abides by the cell phone ban.
There *is* a problem with the MBTA here...
...But it isn't the way the medical emergency was handled. A organization such as the MBTA needs clear lines of responsibilities and communications to avoid confusion and further delay. The driver calls one person who is then responsible for calling in the proper resources.
Also T drivers are prohibited from carrying cell phones, so directly dialing 911 is a non-starter.
Anecdotally; in my travels on the T, I've seen no fewer than three people faint. Yep, pretty scary the first time you see it, but fortunately cooler heads prevailed and everyone was okay in the end.
However, Ms. Church has identified a real and pressing security issue; the total lack of T representative in stations. It should always be easy to quickly and easily locate someone who can offer assistance, be it for an emergency or just simple information. I notice that the MBTA's reply to her leaves this issue completely un-commented on.
All of the stations with
All of the stations with faregates have call boxes located near the gates, with one button to call MBTA Police and another to call the information line. Many stations have call back boxes on the platforms too, with illiminated "police assistance" signs. From what I can tell, most of the boxes are also located near security cameras, so the person responding to a call may also be able to see whats going on.
There have been at least three times in the last couple years that I have witnessed someone either accidently hit the call box or a child push the button not knowing what it was for. In all three cases I heard a response from a MBTA police officer on the other end, who then reset the line when told the call was made in error. They must get accidental requests all day long, but they still responded promptly on the occasions I witnessed.
"It should always be easy to
"It should always be easy to quickly and easily locate someone who can offer assistance, be it for an emergency or just simple information. "
So the MBTA must always provide staff members that can take care of emergencies on hand.....a burden that no one else has to do?
Go to a mall and find a "Simon" employee. No, the guy cleaning the bathroom is not trained in medical emergencies. Nor are the cashiers in the gamestop. They're about as competent as the 200 passengers on the train.
That's actually a very simple thing to do
Get the Transit Police out of their crusiers and SUVs and put them in the stations where they should be in the first place.
Plus, the T can then sell off the now-needless cruisers and SUVs to boot.
In a word, Yes
I did say offer assistance. This doesn't require a trained EMT, but rather someone familiar with the MBTA systems and policies who can see to it that an EMT (if required by the situation) is called for.
Or to call the police. Certainly they should be able to give directions, assist with fare machines, so on so forth.
I really with the T
I really with the T publicized the hours each station's booths are staffed. Since the Charlie system went in, many formerly-staffed entrances are now unstaffed at certain hours, and there's no way of knowing when. If they posted the hours, people would know if they should spend time looking for someone in the booth.
SEE SOMETHING SAY NOTHING
T-employee uses cell phone to call 911 result employee gets fired.
T-employee holds service untill help arise result employee gets fired
Nobody at the MBTA has ever been fired for doing nothing, they only get in trouble when they do something.
The T Is Clueless in Emergencies
Pretty much has been for the 20-odd years that I have been around.
There are no signs designating emergency shuttle bus stops.
Non disabled trains are held in tunnels rather than moved on to unaffected stations.
They do seem to be developing better plans for service interruptions, but there is still enormous confusion and delay. They also appear to have a procedure for medical issues, but that procedure contains the obvious flaw that T personnel are expected to visually evaluate people for medical need - wrong, wrong, wrong.
And this only AFTER they were sued blue over a commuter rail death where they just kept making stops ...
Emergency response procedures are either nonexistant or there is a fundamental failure to get them in place and communicate them to the people on the line (probably for whatever reason we still have workers who are oblivious to the photography and bike rules).
I'm wondering if there is simply no way to reach the rank and file with training information, given the way that the line people seem to have to make it up as they go along every single time something totally predictable happens. Are drivers required to attend trainings? Where are the gaps and blockages to getting people informed of some pretty fundamental policies - and holding them accountable for them?
alternate stops?
except for Kenmore and Park St I'm unaware of any green line stations with an alternate path that would let a train get through a station which was blocked for some reason.
Getting people to the stations
I have been on trains with power that were not disabled that have sat in the tunnels because of some breakdown or an emergency which did not affect one of the two closest stations.
There is no reason to keep people in these trains, yet the T does exactly that. Holds everyone hostage because they have no plan and no procedures for getting people off the damn trains to someplace where they might be able to get a bus, a ride, or walk. All they would have to do is to BACK IT UP to the previous station or move it as far as the next station and let people off.
Most serious case of this: Nearly 100F day on the Longfellow, train is near Kendall and near Charles, train is sitting there not moving with a full load of people for nearly an hour. The AC could not keep up with the load, and people experiencing the early stages of heat stress on a packed train broke open the doors and helped one another escape.
All they had to do was move the train to one station or another. This was something they could do. They had no plan or clue for keeping the passengers safe and then whined when people took desperate measures.
This is what incompetence looks like: http://bostonist.com/2007/10/08/escape_from_mbt.php
I know they can't always move trains into stations to get people out - but when they can, they should, for obvious reasons.
Didn't the incident with the
Didn't the incident with the train on the bridge take place when there was a track fire at Park St. and the fire department ordered the power killed? How was the train supposed to move with no power?
I agree that it would be nice
I agree that it would be nice if they would move it to the nearest platform in such a case. However there's a few things that could prevent that which you might not be considering. Signal failure means that the operator cannot proceed. Now I've seen a case on the Green Line a few weeks ago where there was a jam: I had a good view, and it seemed that there was a broken signal. It appeared that each operator was radioing the dispatcher in order to get permission. That works easily on trolleys which are relatively easy to stop, and operate like that on the surface anyhow. I'm not so sure that would be permitted on the Red Line. Also the signal could be guarding a junction: in case of failure, you may derail.
Another possibility is power failure. While walking across the Longfellow recently I noticed there is a third rail gap on the Kendall side (and some fence gates, I suppose, a crossing area for workers). I assume that also means that each side is powered by separate substations. If one side fails, there's no reason for the train to proceed and get stuck with no power. As for backing up, that seems hopeless, there is likely another train right behind you.
A couple years ago I was on a Green Line train nearing Harvard Ave when the one in front of us got stuck. We waited half an hour for it to get rescued. It does seem a little silly not to be allowed off, the operator was understanding, but she said she was not permitted to open the doors outside a station. The funny part is that I had just escaped from a dead bus when I boarded the train.
The MBTA isn't the only one: remember the elevated train in Brooklyn which got stuck for 10 hours? The passengers had to use the operator's bathroom. That was during the first major blizzard of this past winter.
Kenmore doesn't have an
Kenmore doesn't have an alternate track. Those are different branches. There's no way for a B to cross back over if it enters on the outer track -- it's now a C or D.
The T's core problem
I've come to realize that the Boston area has culture of incompetence.
That's not going to change any time before we're old, so time to start saving up the money and lining up work in a different city. One run by people who are smarter and care more.
What city might that
What city might that be?
Atlantis?
Cognitive Dissonence Overload
I have not been in this situation on the T but have been while in nursing homes and hopitals. In addition to there being an insider/outsider dynamic between the employee and the 'customer', often personal cultural differances - there is the issue of fear of exchanging information due to legalities and repercussians an employee assumes. We have to make a concerted effort to free good employees of this. There are worse things than an employer being sued for exchanging info. And then there is the male vs female thing.
victim might have died - "mr.seizure:"
now being performed at the middle east...
Write clearly
I am not sure what you're trying to say.