This is especially frightening for me since my block features a 43rd Street and a 43rd Place. If I have a seizure or get hit by a car, I am fucked.
Here's how the city is handling the situation:
In response to the incident, the department announced yesterday that it has purchased 120 GPS devices for its emergency vehicles. The first batch has come in.
Oh dear. GPS devices are only as good as the people programming them. Let's just say that I don't have a lot of faith in DC's Emergency Services.
Even in death, Jeremy Miller can't catch a break. While his body went unclaimed, no one in his family was notified of his death. Miller was getting text messages from his mom and no one bothered to give her a call.
It is unclear who had the responsibility for notifying family members about the death.
The fire department said it was the hospital's responsibility.
Howard University Hospital said Miller was dead on arrival, and when the hospital was unsuccessful in reaching family members, it turned the case over to the medical examiner's office.
The medical examiner's office said it relies on the D.C. police to make all notifications. D.C. police said they were not notified about the Miller case or asked to contact the family.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.Shit like this is how hopsitals end up with piles of dead babies.
I'm old enough to remember pre-earring Jim Vance reporting on fuckups like this in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteUsually they get the quadrant wrong, so instead of being a block away, they're across town. I guess that's progress.
And why'd they just get their "first batch" of GPS devices? The technology aint all that new.
And why the hell isn't there a standard protocol for notifying next of kin?
Whatever. My lease just went month to month. I'm hosting an Escape is Imminent party this weekend.
All right, I'm as cynical as the next guy, but you're worried that somehow DC is going to screw up the GPS devices? What, do you think that every time they need some new gadget, they send the request down to a room full of elves who carve it out of wood?
ReplyDeleteC'mon. GPS technology is almost 20 years old now. I've got one on my Verizon phone that may not always give me the best route, but it always knows where I am. I am sure that they will be buying something off the shelf and it will work just fine. Millions of people use them every day and get where they're going.
I give my dead babies laying aroudn the house to Goodwill.
ReplyDeleteI live on 44th St. Only, the two block section of 44th that's behind Katzen. No delivery drivers can ever find our house, and FedEx is convinced our address doesn't exist so when we finally do get packages from them (after calling us 3 times to confirm), they are covered in stickers that say "Address does exist" and literally, a print-out of MapQuest. My biggest fear is that we will need help one day, and no one will be able to find us.
ReplyDeleteI lived on 43rd Pl for a summer. I couldn't get a pizza delivery to save my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived on Capitol Hill (b/w 12th St & 13th St) there was a C St SE in front of me and a second C St SE behind me.
ReplyDeleteStreets in Boston make more sense and they were allegedly designed by cows.
What the hell?
jamie - GPS won't help you if you input "G Place" instead of "G Street."
ReplyDeleteit gets you where you tell it to go, and unfortunately DC can't even get that right.