Postpartum hemorrhage reveals nationwide 911 answer-time crisis

In July 2023, Oakland therapist Caitlin Ditta suffered a postpartum hemorrhage and struggled to reach 911, exposing a chronic failure of emergency call answering across the United States. Audits and grand-jury reports have long warned that many dispatch centers lack sufficient staff, leading to long hold times; in 2025, almost half of the 68 centers that provided data failed to answer 90 % of calls within 15 seconds. Cities such as Los Angeles, Kansas City and St. Louis recorded answer rates as low as 64 % and 56 % respectively, leaving over 1.3 million callers waiting at least 40 seconds.

Experts link the crisis to vacancy rates near 25 %, lower salaries than police, and inadequate fee revenues, while mental-health strain on telecommunicators fuels attrition. Legislative efforts, notably the Enhancing First Response Act championed by Rep. Norma Torres, seek to reclassify dispatchers as first responders, but the bill has stalled. Recent hiring improvements have cut Oakland’s average answer time to under 20 seconds, yet the city still only answered 71 % of calls within 15 seconds in 2025, underscoring ongoing challenges.