Councilman 'twitters' help for sick woman

UPI reports
ATLANTA, May 18 (UPI) -- Atlanta Councilman Kwanza Hall says he used the social-media tool Twitter to get help for a sick woman who had suffered a seizure.

Hall, who found the woman lying on a corner, said he didn't call 911 because his cellphone battery was nearly dead and he feared losing the call if he were put on hold, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday.

Instead, he used his phone to "tweet" a message to his 1,840 Twitter followers, saying an unconscious woman needed a paramedic at the corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson Street in Atlanta.

Within minutes, an ambulance arrived Friday to take the unidentified woman to Grady Memorial Hospital, Hall said. No further information was available on the woman's condition.

Hall said he planned to register @911Atl on Twitter, though for the time being a phone call remains the only way to reach emergency operators.

Atlanta's 911 center has been criticized for putting people on hold. Fire destroyed a house in the city this month after callers to 911 were put on hold for at least seven minutes, the Journal-Constitution reported.

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