Kansas City newborn home after NICU stay following delayed 911 response time
By Andy Alcock
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KANSAS CITY, MIssouri (KMBC) — A baby is now home after spending the first five weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, following a problem reaching Kansas City Police 911.
Wells Brown’s parents brought him home from the hospital Saturday.
“I’m finally in my baby bliss. After 35 days, I’m finally there,” said Devin Brown, Wells’ mother.
As KMBC first reported last month, Wells was not breathing after he was born, and Devin was close to bleeding out from a difficult childbirth.
Family members tried calling 911 but were put on hold three different times.
Help arrived only after a family member in Overland Park called 911.
“It’s just heartbreaking because I know we’re not the only family that’s being affected by this. Someone is not as lucky as us, and a family is missing someone right now because of this. This is unacceptable,” Devin said.
While Wells is healthy enough to return home, Devin said her son suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen when he was born. She said the extent of that damage is unknown.
“We just won’t know until he starts to grow and we see him meet or miss some of those milestones. We are going to have to be in close contact with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech,” Devin said. “If we hadn’t waited 17 minutes for 911 to be here, oh my goodness, maybe we wouldn’t have been in the NICU for 35 days, and maybe we wouldn’t be, you know, talking about what he can and can’t do.”
Newly released 911 wait time data from the Mid-America Regional Council, or MARC, shows the problem is getting worse.
In September 2021, the average 911 wait time for KCPD was 13 seconds. It was 19 seconds in September 2022. In September 2023, it was 21 seconds. And this past month, it was 34 seconds.
“This is life and death for some people. Wells and I very well could not have made it. This is very serious. And for us, it’s very personal,” Devin said.
The 34-second average wait time for September is more than double a key industry standard. That standard expects 90 percent of all 911 calls to be answered within 15 seconds.
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