I-Team: City Official Vows To Change Policies Following Airport Death
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A city inquiry now reveals that there were six separate calls for help, including three from the victim, as Jennifer Moore fought to stay alive, waiting nearly 40 minutes for Advanced Life Support help inside a bathroom in Terminal "E" at Philadelphia International Airport early on the morning of January 17th.
The inquiry findings, obtained exclusively by the CBS 3 I-Team, conclude that confusion and bad communication led to the delays.
Mrs. Moore, a mother of two who had just arrived on her way to celebrate her son's birthday, was pronounced dead from a pulmonary embolism after finally arriving at the hospital, more than an hour after the first call for help.
Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison who initiated the investigation following an exclusive CBS 3 I-Team report, indicated that five Philadelphia Fire Units who respond to airport emergencies from city stations will now receive special training and radio frequencies to direct them clearly to locations where help is needed.
The city will also establish a "hotline" connecting airport dispatchers with the main fire department dispatch facility in center city.
Gillison revealed Mrs. Moore's call for help was one of three emergency calls received within 18 minutes. The I-Team found three units sent to Terminal "E" all were within blocks of where Mrs. Moore was fighting for her life, but all three turned around and went back to their fire stations without ever providing help.
The Deputy Mayor also says every airport restroom will now be marked with signs so that victims needing help and emergency responders will know exactly where they are.
Gillison also says he will work with the FAA on response policies for airport fire units.
The I-Team found that as Mrs. Moore was dying, a "first responder unit" located a short distance away remained in its firehouse due to policies limiting the response of airport fire trucks to calls outside the "secure area" on the far side of screeners.
Mrs. Moore's husband Timothy says, however, that he is far from satisfied with the changes promised by city officials. Moore in an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News saying the city is merely "tweaking" its system, a system that, he claims, is no better now at protecting lives than it was back on January 17th when his wife and mother of two children died after waiting for help that came too late
Reported by Walt Hunter, CBS 3
