MILWAUKEE — On Friday, Milwaukee officials announced enhanced protocols that will work to bolster efforts in locating a patient or 911 caller who is outdoors.

The following provisions will be added to EMS operating guidelines:

• "Providers shall ensure that the scene is safe prior to coordinating their efforts to locate patients who are not immediately present
• "Responders shall exercise due diligence in performing a search for a patient and shall utilize dispatch to attempt re-contact with the patient or caller(s), interact with bystanders as appropriate who may have information on the patient’s location, and utilize an audible and visual device (ex: activate their lights and sirens) to announce their presence/arrival at the location
• "For multi-agency and multi-apparatus incidents, providers shall coordinate their efforts under the guidance of the incident commander, which may include searching in the direction of patient travel as appropriate"

These updated policies come after Jolene Waldref called 9-1-1 for help on Jan. 15. Curtis Ambulance dispatched a team of EMTs, but they could not find her.

She had fallen behind a snow bank and wind chills were well below zero degrees that day.

Waldref was found 22 minutes after EMTs had left the area. Bystanders called 9-1-1 again, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Following the investigation, Curtis Ambulance said there will be no disciplinary actions taken on the EMTs who responded because they followed protocol.

However, there has since been much discussion about those protocols and calls from officials for changes to ensure public safety.

“I want to thank Fire Chief Aaron Lipski, the Milwaukee Fire Department and ambulance service providers for being open to improving their procedures in an effort to ensure our community is offered the best, most comprehensive support services possible,” Milwaukee Alderman Lamont Westmoreland said. “At the end of the day I believe these changes in policy can save lives, and we will be better off for them.”