Detroit Family Blames EMS Slow Response After 11-Year-Old Girl Dies From An Asthma Attack

The life of an 11-year-old girl, Jada Wallace, in Detroit, Michigan was tragically cut short after she suffered an asthma attack on Tuesday. Her family is now claiming that she could have been saved had EMS arrived at their home sooner, according to the Fox 2 Detroit.

At around 7:41 a.m. on Tuesday, November 8, police officials received a call about a child having difficulty breathing. The child’s mother, Dontae Hudson, recalls the incident, stating that her daughter “went into my room and she couldn’t breathe. I panicked of course, and I get the machine, I call 911 because my baby can’t breathe.”

When emergency medical services hadn’t arrived at the home within five minutes, Hudson called back and “claimed that the dispatcher kept asking for the cross streets,” which was an indication that EMS were lost while the child was suffering an asthma attack.

“I’m telling them my baby can’t breathe, she falls to her knees,” Hudson said.

“I’m trying to get her up and it’s like her mind is gone. I called them back and said please hurry up and send someone, and they continued to ask me for a cross street.”

Hudson added that by the time EMS arrived at the home – 25 minutes later – Wallace had already passed away. She believes if they would have promptly arrived at their location, her daughter would still be alive.

Girl dies from asthma attack; family blames slow EMS response https://t.co/ZIHjfX6Dox pic.twitter.com/ClEb7l8BCC

— FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) November 12, 2016

A Detroit police spokesperson later investigated the claim and determined that it did not take EMS 25 minutes to arrive at the home, saying that “EMS arrived at the home by 7:56 a.m. – that doesn’t add up to 25 minutes, which instead it is about 15 minutes.”

However, the family still insists that EMS took too long to arrive at the home. Wallace’s great aunt, Gabrielle White, said, “Those dispatchers maybe need to undergo some more training. I don’t know if they have the right questions, but they need to find the right questions to be asking.”

“We start CPR and I’m like my baby is not breathing,” said Hudson.

“And the dispatcher says to me ‘Are you doing CPR?’ My baby is not breathing. ‘Let me hear you count chest compressions.’ I’m done.”

“Once I see my baby urine on herself, I pretty much knew.”

Initially, there was a report about the EMS being from Redford but there had been a mistake. Chris Lisak, who is a firefighter and paramedic at the Redford Township, addressed the oversight via Facebook where he wrote the following.

“This was a Detroit event that took place near the Redford border. It sounds like a dispatching error created a severe delay. Tragically she passed away due to a 25-minute response from Detroit EMS. The original news story stated it was a Redford call. Josh Landon (author) from Fox 2 was notified of this error and has edited the website article.”

“My condolences to the Wallace Family for this sad tragedy.”

Following the fatal asthma attack, BreAnna Zeigler of Redford, Michigan created a Go Fund Me page to give Wallace a proper homecoming.

According to the site, it states that Wallace “was an angel in disguise. She was beautiful, talented, and wise beyond her years. She had an effect on everyone she came in contact with.”

“Unfortunately, Jada passed away at the age of 11, just one week after her birthday, due to an asthma attack. All donations will be greatly appreciated.”

The family has since amassed an aggregate of $4,005 in donations, which is more money than what they were hoping to raise.

DPD Chief James Craig stated that he is “taking the matter very seriously” and the department is conducting their own investigation to uncover what went wrong.

Wallace’s funeral will be held this Saturday, November 19, at the Gate to Glory Church in Detroit at noon.

[Featured Image By Scott Olsen/Getty Images]