NORTHWEST PRESS Your Community Press newspaper serving Colerain Township, Green Township, Sharonville, Springdale, Wyoming and other Northwest Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
###
911 call-taker fi red after not sending help for man having apparent stroke Kevin Grasha and Sharon Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Apartment building at 1500 Groesbeck Road in College Hill, where an elderly man who appeared to have suffered a stroke died in January after a 911 call-taker didn't send help. The call-taker was suspended for what officials called "a serious neglect of duty." ENQUIRER/KEVIN GRASHA
‘Ma’am, he’s gonna die here’: 911 calls released after man’s death Kevin Grasha Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Nearly seven minutes into the 911 call, Gregory Grothaus appeared to realize the call-taker wasn’t going to send paramedics for his elderly neighbor who’d apparently had a stroke but was resisting help. “Ma’am, he’s gonna die here,” Grothaus fi nally said. The call-taker, who remains suspended over her handling of the Jan. 12 call, repeated something she said several times: If the man didn’t want help, there was nothing that could be done. “Well, sir, unfortunately there’s nothing the fi re department or police offi cers can do,” she said in the call, which was released Monday, March 9 by the city.
“They can’t force themselves on him.” The next day, on Jan. 13, 69-year-old Patrick Ward was found dead in his apartment at 1500 Groesbeck Road in College Hill. “I tried and tried and tried,” Grothaus told The Enquirer, recalling his efforts to get help for Ward. “Everybody could’ve done something, but nobody did anything. And it’s pitiful.” Grothaus lives in the same building but on a diff erent fl oor. He said he’d known Ward for a few months. Ward lived alone and was on oxygen. Grothaus called 911 twice on Jan. 12. In the fi rst, he asked for a welfare check. Ward’s health was deteriorating See 911 CALL, Page 2A
The Cincinnati 911 center call-taker who didn’t send help for a 69-year-old man after a neighbor told her the man would die has been fi red, two city sources told The Enquirer. Sherri Willis was suspended over her handling of the Jan. 12 call, during which a neighbor of Patrick Ward told her Ward had suff ered a stroke, that it was “an emergency,” and twice said Ward was “gonna die.”
City Manager Patrick Duhaney told city council members in a March 2 email that Willis’ response to an apparent medical emergency could “best be described as a serious neglect of duty.” During the nearly eight-minute call, the neighbor said that Ward – a Navy veteran who had multiple health issues – might not accept help. Willis went back and forth with the neighbor, telling him that fi rst-responders could not “force themselves on him.” She also told the neighbor to explain to Ward “why he needs help.” Near the end of the call, Willis suggested the neighbor contact a doctor and “let them know what’s going on.” City Manager Patrick Duhaney told city council members in a March 2 email that Willis’ response to an apparent medical emergency could “best be described as a serious neglect of duty.”
69-year-old Patrick Ward was found dead in his apartment at 1500 Groesbeck Road in College Hill on Jan. 13. PROVIDED/FACEBOOK
Duhaney said Willis’ training would have stated that a person experiencing what appears to be a stroke “must receive an immediate response that is not subject to delay.” Willis had been on the job less than two years. She had been suspended with pay, pending the outcome of a disciplinary process. Duhaney said there were three 911 calls regarding Ward in the days before Jan. 12. Ward’s neighbors told The Enquirer that a police offi cer came to the College Hill apartment building on Jan. 12, talked with Ward and then left, apparently because Ward refused help. Ward was refusing help, neighbor Mark Todd told The Enquirer, because his biggest fear was being sent to a nursing home. “The fact they wouldn’t come help him, really, really, really bugs the (expletive) out of me,” Todd said.
Why Sundermann bears weight of West Side on her shoulders New Cincinnati City Councilwoman is investigating if the West Side is getting its fair share of funding Jason Williams and Sharon Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Cincinnati’s heavily populated West Side fi nally has a representative on Cincinnati City Council, and Betsy Sundermann has a message for Westwood and the Price Hill neighborhoods: “I’m listening to you,” the Republican recently said on The Enquirer’s That’s So Cincinnati podcast. Sundermann was appointed to council recently to replace Amy Murray, who left for a job in the Trump administration. She’s the fi rst West Side resident to hold a seat on council since 2009, when then-West Price Hill resident Greg Har-
ris was on council. East Price Hill’s Sundermann has already started to take an in-depth look to see how City Hall treats the West Side. She has asked the administration to provide data on citywide economic development projects to see if the West Side is getting its fair share of funding. “Every time I talk to community councils, they always say, ‘No one’s listening to us at City Hall. They only listen to the East Side and Downtown,’ “Sundermann said. “Now I can go and say, ‘I’m listening to you! Tell me all of your problems.’” Sundermann also talked about helping to restore civility on a council that’s been plagued by infi ghting and scandal. “I don’t have any preconceived notions about anyone,” Sundermann said. “I’m not going into this hating anyone. Everyone’s telling me what I should think about people, but I’m going to make my own decisions.”
Betsy Sundermann is the fi rst West Side resident to hold a seat on the Cincinnati City Council since 2009. PROVIDED
“Every time I talk to community councils, they always say, ‘No one’s listening to us at City Hall. They only listen to the East Side and Downtown.’ Now I can go and say, ‘I’m listening to you! Tell me all of your problems.’” Betsy Sundermann
She added: “I’m going to try my best to get along with people. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to vote for what they want me to vote for. But I’m going to be respectful and I will calmly negotiate things with people are who willing to do that with me.”
Cincinnati City Council
Find out more about Sundermann by listening to her in-depth chat for free on That’s So Cincinnati. Click the Audioboom link at the top to listen here or go to Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify and other listening platforms.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to the new coronavirus concerns, it is best to check with event organizers if you plan to attend any event that may be included.
YOUR HEALTH with Dr. Owens
An accurate Census can help bring funds for health, education, more www.interactforhealth.org How to submit news
To submit news and photos to the Community Press/Recorder, visit the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Share website: http://bit.ly/2FjtKoF
Contact The Press
News: 513-903-6027, Retail advertising: 768-8404, Classified advertising: 242-4000, Delivery: 513-853-6277. See page A2 for additonal information
Vol. 3 No. 9 © 2020 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED $1.00
WFDBHE-22010t