Grandmother at East End Avenue building falls, bleeding without emergency help

NEW YORK (WABC) -- An elderly neighbor's accident in an Upper East Side building has raised questions about the responsiveness of city emergency workers.

In July tenants at an East End Avenue building found their elderly neighbor who had slipped and fallen in the building's mailroom, badly bleeding from her head.

Over the next 30 minutes, the building's porter, doorman, a tenant and the superintendent called 911 multiple times. Finally, tenant Richard Frances sent the doorman across the street in a panic to alert the Gracie Mansion security detail.

Moments later, medics arrived.

But the New York City Fire Department is now investigating. According to the incident report, the responding supervisor was apparently furious that the victim's age did not result in a higher priority.

The city is also re-evaluating how 911 calls are received and processed, after a series of high-profile glitches. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged Tuesday that the latest delay was unacceptable.

"This particular incident is under investigation and in general we are reviewing all the 911 operations to figure out how we can do better," he said.

Tenants say the experience is unnerving.