Some calls made to 911 on behalf of a resident who was in need of immediate medical attention were met with a recording or busy signal raising concern over the public's ability to get aid in emergencies.

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, Winthrop-University Hospital was giving a seminar on sleep disorders in the community center of Mineola Village Hall as part of the hospital's community outreach. Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins reported at last Wednesday's public meeting of the village board of trustees that a resident collapsed during the seminar. According to Mayor Martins, calls were made to 911 and some of the calls were met with a recording saying that the lines were busy before a call eventually got through to a 911 operator.

"One thing we can't take for granted is that when you call 911 that you're going to get someone on the other side who's going to answer your call. You don't expect to be put on hold," said Mayor Martins.

According to John Broder, vice president of External Affairs at Winthrop-University Hospital, Winthrop personnel who were at the seminar included a pulmonary medicine specialist, a fellow in geriatric medicine and a home care nurse. Broder confirmed that calls made to 911 were met with a recording. He said that Winthrop personnel were able to recessitate the woman until the emergency personnel did arrive to transport her to the hospital.

According to Inspector Robert Turk of the Nassau County Police 3rd Precinct, seven calls to 911 were logged in. Four of the seven were hang-ups and the other three were answered. One call was answered in 52 seconds, another call in 41 seconds and another in 24 seconds.

After the 911 operator answered the call, it took two minutes to dispatch a car, a three minute response time for a police car to arrive and another seven to eight minutes for the ambulance to arrive.

Inspector Turk explained that sometimes 911 experiences an influx of calls and the advent of cellular phones has made the volume of calls increase. Inspector Turk also explained what further complicated the response was that the police were given the wrong address of village hall.

- Joe Rizza