Jolene Waldref: Milwaukee woman freezes to death after slipping on ice as ambulance fails to locate her

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: A Milwaukee woman lost her life in sub-zero temperatures on January 16 when she fell on ice and called 911 for help, but the ambulance crew could not find her behind a pile of snow.

Jolene Waldref, 49, was on her way to a bus stop near 76th and Congress in Milwaukee when she slipped and fell face first into the snow, according to a GoFundMe campaign started by Shannon Burns Eckert.

Ambulance crew drove by Jolene Waldref without stopping

The GoFundMe claimed that Waldref had finished work and was waiting for the bus when she fell. She worked a a caregiver for several years at Life Touches Home Healthcare. 

The “feels like” temperatures in the area were between 20 and 30 degrees below zero, reports WISN.

Waldref called 911 and the ambulance arrived in about four minutes, but they did not see her near the bus stop, few reports said.

CBS 58 obtained footage that showed the ambulance driving by the woman without slowing down or getting out of the vehicle.

A passerby later found Waldref in a snowbank and called for help again. The crews then reached her, but she died from hypothermia less than an hour later.

Ambulance service defends its crew who failed to locate Jolene Waldref

Curtis Ambulance, the company that responded to the call, and the Milwaukee Fire Department said Waldref’s body was hidden behind an electrical box and a garbage can, and snow.

Curtis Ambulance CEO James Baker said the crew “did the best they could by looking for the patient” and vice president of operations Dan Robakowski said they “were unable to see anybody that was in that sidewalk or fence area.”

"She tried calling 911 but the call was dropped. They called back, but she had gone unconscious. She was found over an hour and half later. She died of hypothermia," the fundraiser launched by Shannon Burns Eckert wrote. 

However, Mark Borkowski, 11th District Alderman for the City of Milwaukee, criticized the situation as “very discouraging” and “incredibly tragic.”

He said he “took issue” with the idea that the crew could not search every snowbank for the woman. He asked, “What does it take to get out and look around?”

Baker defended the crew at a press conference on Tuesday, January 30, saying they “did their due diligence” and “didn’t do anything wrong.”

He said the EMS system “worked as designed” and that it was hard to locate Waldref because she was not standing upright and was not at the bus stop, People reports. 

Family mourns the loss of Jolene Waldref

Waldref’s eldest daughter reportedly said she believed the crew should have exited their vehicle to look for her mother, but did not comment further.

She will be taking guardianship over her 14-year-old sister Eckert, according to the GoFundMe page. 

The fundraiser campaign raised more than $22,000 for Waldref’s funeral and her daughters as of midday Friday, February 2.

Eckert said the sisters “have had to grow up much too fast”, noting that their father died six months before their mother.