Q&A: Why Hillwood Property Manager Wants All Her Properties Using Kings III Elevator Phones

We received an elevator phone call from a caller who stated that his roommate was threatening him with a knife and he ran out of the apartment and didn’t have his cell phone at the time. No medical attention was needed, but he did request police to assist with the person inside the apartment.

Our operators received a call from a pool phone where the caller reported feeling weak and nauseated, expressing that they felt close to passing out when speaking. In response, the operator quickly adapted by having the caller communicate through tapping on the phone, likely using a system like “one tap for yes, two for no.” This approach allowed the operator to escalate the call for dispatch while keeping the caller reassured that help was on the way.

Our operators received a distress call from a woman stuck in an elevator. Having worked in the building for 20 years without any issues, the caller was understandably anxious, fearing the elevator might fall. our operators calmly explained the safety features of the elevator and reassured her that help was on the way, keeping her composed while another dispatcher coordinated the rescue.

Our dispatchers received a call from an elevator phone from a passenger requesting help getting home. He stated he was taken from his home and had been walking for a very long time. He was not stuck in the elevator, but he did request EMS. Our dispatchers escalated the call so that they could stay on the line with the caller and dispatched EMS immediately.

A call came in from an Elevator phone. The Elevator Technician was stuck in the elevator between floors 2 and 3. He asked us to have someone onsite go to the elevator so that he could tell them what to do to get him out. Our dispatcher was able to contact the property to assist him.

A call came in from Elevator 1 at a Public Storage where a passenger stated that there were 6 people stuck on the 2nd floor. The caller requested EMS due to a concern for her child’s hydration levels. She stated that one of her children was very hot, sweating, and has a history of seizures. The call was escalated to EMS and AEMD. The passengers were rescued by the Fire Department.

A call came in from the elevator phone from a passenger saying that someone was trying to kidnap them. The passenger stopped responding momentarily and then yelled “Please Help Me” and stopped responding again. Due to a lack of information, Police were dispatched to the location.

A passenger who is in a wheelchair was on the 6th floor when the elevator doors wouldn’t close or move. The operator notified the property manager of the elevator issues and dispatched the fire department to help the passenger down from the 6th floor.

A 7-year-old caller from Fort Worth called from a Kings III Pool Phone advising that we was lost. He stopped responding after being asked questions, but it was a unclear if it was due to audio issues or the child leaving the phone. Our operators contacted the local police department, and the child did call back. On the callback, the child said he was able to see his parents and stopped responding again.

A caller from Wichita Falls went to her friend’s house, Debbie, for a visit. When the caller approached the home, she found that the door was open. Inside she found Debbie with her head and knees in the tub, stiff and cold to the touch. The caller went to the office pool phone to call us for help. The caller stated that Debbie was an alcoholic and she wasn’t sure if she had been washing her hair in the tub or if she had passed out due to alcohol consumption. EMS was dispatched immediately and EDC supervisor Emily stayed on the line with the caller and gathered information. The caller refused to check for a pulse, advising that Debbie was beyond her help and needed EMS. We helped her to remain calm and know that help was on the way.

We received a call from an elevator phone at a storage facility. The caller reported their 10-year-old son was locked in the basement of the building. They did confirm that nobody was stuck in the elevator, they just used the elevator phone to report their emergency. Our Operator called the passenger’s cell phone to maintain communication so that they didn’t become entrapped in the elevator while trying to relay the information. After attempting to notify the property contacts with no response, the Fire Department was dispatched to assist.

We received a call from an elevator at a property of ours. The passenger advised the operator that he was stuck inside and reported he has a heart condition and claustrophobic. When asked if he would like us to contact EMS, he declined. Operator 1 stayed on the line with the passenger while another Operator 2 dispatched the elevator company. Operator 1 offered to call the passenger’s wife to make her aware, and the passenger agreed. Operator 1 attempted to contact his wife but was unsuccessful. Operator 1 remained on the line to monitor his progress until the elevator company arrived.

We received a call from a 14-year-old girl using a pool phone, urgently requesting police assistance. She revealed her awareness of an existing arrest warrant and expressed a voluntary surrender, along with her companion. Law enforcement was dispatched just after midnight. Two additional calls were made at 4:00 am and 5:30 am, inquiring about the officers’ expected arrival time at the specified location. Throughout the entire duration, our dispatchers maintained a non-judgmental environment, offering continuous follow-up and care, serving as a liaison between the young woman and law enforcement.

We received a call from an elevator phone from a male resident requesting EMS. The resident advised the operator that his wife was unconscious on the bathroom floor of their apartment. The caller did not stay by the elevator phone because he wanted to return to his wife until EMS arrived. Our operator was able to dispatch EMS.

Operator 1 received a call from an elevator phone from someone requesting EMS. The caller believed that their 18-year-old friend was roofied and as they were on their way to their car to transport her friend to the emergency room, the elevator got stuck. The passenger stated that their friend was breathing, but was unconscious. Another Operator 2 dispatched EMS while Operator 1 stayed on the line with the caller. The passenger stopped responding, However, Operator 2 confirmed that the Fire Department and EMS were on the scene and the patient was being treated.

Our operator received a call via pool phone from a gentleman asking if we could help him get connected to the Veterans Crisis hotline. While we didn’t have the number readily available in our database, our operator did a quick Google search and found the hotline number and was able to conference in the caller within minutes. Once the call was connected to the hotline, our operator notified the property of the request that had been made via the pool phone.

We received a call that appeared to be an accident. Our operator listened in, trying to connect and communicate with someone. They could hear noises in the background but couldn’t make anything out of it. The operator logged it as “voices heard” and closed the call. Two minutes later, that exact same elevator phone called back in. A different operator answered, but the situation was the same. They were unable to make anything of the noises they heard. This operator looked at the history and saw that this was the second call within two minutes. They began to think that somebody was in the elevator and needed help. The operator called through the property’s call escalation list and dispatched the Fire Department and Emergency Services. That elevator phone continued to call a total of fourteen times that same day. On the fourteenth call, the Fire Department was on site and helping an unattended, disabled minor who had been pressing the help button repeatedly.

During an elevator entrapment, the passenger called into the EDC and couldn’t hear us very well. The operator could hear the passenger, though. After confirming they were entrapped, our operator dispatched the fire department. A few minutes later the passenger called back to state that they couldn’t breathe, so our operators called EMS and dispatched them as well.

We received a call from the pool phone at one of our properties requesting EMS. The young lady reported that her 20 year old friend had recently switched her seizure medication and had an episode. Due to the seizure she had fell and hit her head.

We received a call from a property of ours in Merritt Island, FL. The call was from a distraught child who came to the pool phone at his apartment to report that his mother was not feeling well. The child reported that his mother was not able to move and had low blood pressure. The son was very upset about his mother’s health and our Emergency Dispatch Center Operators did a wonderful job keeping him calm and dispatching emergency services to provide help.

A resident at the property came across a young child inside the elevator with no parents. The first operator escalated to a second operator for police assistance, while the first operator gathered additional information.  The resident rode the elevator to each floor looking for the child’s parents, and upon finding the parents, the police dispatch was canceled.

We received a call from a gentleman advising that he had found a 30-something-year-old male inside the elevator that had collapsed and appeared to be having a seizure. The call was escalated to an EMD-certified operator to handle the EMS call, while the first operator dispatched authorities.

Operator #1 received a call from the office pool phone advising that they had been beaten up by their spouse about 30 minutes ago inside their apartment. They said that they were hit in the face and unable to open their eyes. They had gone to multiple neighbors asking for help, but nobody would call 911. Operator #1 escalated the call and Operator #2 dispatched PD & EMS. Operator #1 stayed on the line with the caller until they stopped responding.

Operator #1 received a call from the office pool phone from a 19-year-old female requesting EMS.  The female was at her apartment complex gym and had a 45lb weight fall on her ring finger (with a ring on it) while she was trying to rerack the weights. Operator #1 escalated the call to Operator #2 for AEMD due to the female advising that she was losing circulation.  Operator #2 gathered the information and escalated the call again for dispatch. Paramedics were dispatched and the 911 operator did reassure the caller that she could lose circulation for 6 hours before anything happened, so she was going to be ok.

We received a call from a property of ours in Pensacola, FL. Management advised us that a 73-year-old female resident tripped while going up the steps to the office/clubhouse. Her head was bleeding from the fall. Management went directly to our phone instead of calling 911, even though the phone wasn’t right next to where the resident was.  Our first operator stayed on the line with management to gather any updates while a second operator dispatched EMS.

We received a call from a help phone at our customer’s property from a 15-year-old youth who ran away from a home he had been placed in. He just jumped on a bus and took it to a location he didn’t know. He arrived in Wichita, KS on a bus at 3:10 PM and wandered around until midnight, until he felt the need to call for help.

We were able to send help his way by dispatching the police to his location and notify the appropriate personnel at the property so they were aware of the situation.

We received a call from an apartment complex. A resident who had just had surgery had collapsed in their apartment and her husband called the front office for help. The site manager called 911 but the line was busy. They then used our pool phone to call us for help and we were able to contact emergency services and get help on the way.

We received a call from a senior living center where a caller was using a pool phone while having a mental health emergency. When our Emergency Dispatch Center called the property, the property replied that this was an elderly person who was off their medicine, and the staff was unable to help her due to another emergency. Our operator team went above and beyond and called police and EMS services, who also said they couldn’t help since the caller was declining emergency services. The EMS team suggested calling the Austin mental health crisis line. While it’s not part of our protocols, the EDC team did the right thing and took the initiative by following the EMS recommendation. They conferenced in the mental health line and kept the line open so that the caller could speak with them and get this woman some help.

Two callers, one male and one female placed a call from a pool phone in Connecticut, advising our operator that they had been walking down the street when a lady came to her front door and asked them to call 911 for her because she doesn’t have a working phone inside her residence and she wasn’t feeling well. This lady lives next to a community pool, so the couple walked down to the clubhouse and used the pool phone to call us. Another great example showing that our phones are not just used for emergencies related to pools and elevators.

A caller from Wichita Falls went to her friend’s house, Debbie, for a visit. When the caller approached the home, she found that the door was open.  Inside she found Debbie with her head and knees in the tub, stiff and cold to the touch. The caller went to the office pool phone to call us for help.  The caller stated that Debbie was an alcoholic and she wasn’t sure if she had been washing her hair in the tub or if she had passed out due to alcohol consumption. EMS was dispatched immediately and EDC supervisor Emily stayed on the line with the caller and gathered information. The caller refused to check for a pulse, advising that Debbie was beyond her help and needed EMS. We helped her to remain calm and know that help was on the way.

Our emergency dispatch center supervisor received an emergency phone activation from an elevator in Lauderhill, Florida. The caller told Emily he had been shot and needed police and emergency medical services. The only information Emily could get was that he was on the 1st floor and he wasn’t sure if anyone else had been hurt. He stopped responding after providing this information. He was conscious and breathing when he first called, but his speech started to slur before he stopped responding and it was unclear if he had exited the elevator or if his condition changed. The EDC immediately dispatched and passed on his location information to emergency responders.

Kings III received a call from the pool phone behind the clubhouse from a gentleman advising that there was another male in his 60’s had fallen in the parking lot out front and hit his head on a parking block. The male was bleeding from his head and the only way that he was able to call for help is through the pool phone.  The wife stayed up front with the male and the gentleman that found him ran to the back of the complex and used the pool phone to call us.

A Kings III operator received an activation from an Office Pool at 3:20am and connected with a female that was clearly under the influence.  It was evident by her speech and the lack of her being able to answer our questions or tell us what was going on that she needed assistance, so the operator continued to ask probing questions to ensure he did what he could. The female declined our offer to call her children or her husband and said that she would call her husband herself.  The operator disconnected the call and within a few minutes, we received another activation. This time another Kings III operator received the call from the same female. This operator provided suggestions and offered assistance to which the female advised that she had tried all those ways to get out, but the gates were all locked and her key fob wasn’t working. The operator again offered to call her husband for her because she was unable to contact anyone from the property. The female gave the same numbers, but in many different sequences, so Kim had to clarify many times in order to get a working #. Our operator exhausted all management contacts and the female’s husband, ultimately ending with a Fire dispatch to assist her out of the gated pool area.

This call was very early in the morning, and it ended up that the female did not have her cell phone with her. Had the property not had a Kings III phone, there is no telling how long she would have had to stay locked in the pool area before someone discovered her.

A Kings III operator received a call from a pool phone. The male and female on the other end of the line advised that they had been walking down the street and a lady that lives at 14 Swan Lake Trail came to her front door and asked them to call 911 for her because she doesn’t have a working phone inside her residence and she wasn’t feeling well.  The couple walked down to the Clubhouse and used the pool phone to call us.