SOLON, Ohio — A Solon family is calling for change after a slow 911 response time lead to a man being life-flighted after waiting for medical aid.
Michell Seifert recalled the day of the incident and what lead him to believe he needed immediate medical attention, "I was playing pickle ball for about an hour and a half and than I started to get a little headache. I couldn't wait so I called 911."
Seifert's wife Elise gave him medication in an attempt to help the pain, but after several minutes, the headache pain continued to progress. A call to 911 was made.
Elise recommended she drive him to a local hospital, but Mitchell wanted to wait for emergency crews to arrive. He stood at the edge of his lawn waiting for a crew to arrive, the pain worsening by the second. After 11 long minutes of waiting, help finally arrived.
Mitchell recalls, "When I got into the ER squad and I was throwing up profusely I was just saying help me God please. I got to the ER they took a cat scan and they saw that I was (internally) bleeding a little and they life flighted me to the Cleveland Clinic downtown."
Calls for Solon go through Chagrin Valley Dispatch and then are referred to Solon Fire Rescue.
Solon Fire records show on May 6th there were several calls. Seifert's call does showed a delay of over 11 minutes. Another unrelated call showed a delay of a little over 10 minutes.
Elise took her complaint to city council a month after the incident and said, "I believe this needs to be address immediately because I can imagine how many people could die waiting for an ambulance."
Solon Mayor Ed Krauss is also the city's safety director, and he agrees with Seifert, "I totally agree its in excusable."
Both the mayor and Seifert agree the rescue crews were outstanding once they arrived. Krauss even went on to say, "It should never happen to anyone and the fact that you had to wait is something that we will address."
He also added, "This is an isolated incident."
This incident comes just a few years after an unidentified woman had to watch her son suffer a life-threatening medical emergency for nearly 12 minutes before aid came after a 911 call.
The mother told 3News, "30 minutes after I put him down we found him unresponsive he was staring at the wall and just blinking. It took them 12 minutes to get to our house and we are like three to four minutes from the fire station."
Her son had to be life-flighted after emergency crews were unable to help his convulsing.
"No parent should have to hold their seizing child on a lawn for 12 minutes and just pray their child lives," the mother said.
Her son now 7 is not the same. But she says the event left her son with lasting effects like memory issues.
"There are many times I think if he would have gotten help sooner we he still have this."
The mayor went on to say their safety crews are one of the best in the state and are always training to be prepared.
Seifert says it more about the response time and puts the blame on the call center.
We reached out to Chagrin Valley Dispatch, but they could not be reached for comment.