Morgan resident recounts 24-minute EMS delay and urges council review of 911 response

A Morgan resident and program director told the City Council on Jan. 27 that a delayed emergency response nearly cost his son’s life and urged officials to review local 911 and EMS procedures.

Jason Talbot, center director at Weber Basin Job Corps, described a medical emergency on Aug. 19, 2025. He said he called 911 at 5:56 a.m.; about 20 minutes later he still had not seen responders, so he loaded his son into his truck and began driving toward McKay Hospital. Talbot said he then encountered an ambulance without lights or siren on the old highway and flagged it down; he said his son received pain medication after being transferred to that ambulance. Talbot said his son’s prior diagnoses (including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and prior abdominal surgery) made the delay especially dangerous.

Talbot asked the council what the community should consider an adequate response time and recommended the city examine 911/EMS protocols, sheriff coverage and the possibility of having a full-time EMS unit on-site during early hours when volunteer coverage can be thin. He said he was “not here to bash law enforcement” and that he supports first responders, but that the experience demanded attention.

Mayor and council members thanked Talbot for raising the concern and said they would take the matter under advisement. The mayor acknowledged the seriousness of the incident and said the council now was aware of the family’s experience.

What Talbot asked for: review of the city’s 911 dispatching and ambulance protocols for early-morning calls, assessment of sheriff/EMS patrol patterns in residential neighborhoods, and consideration of expanded full-time EMS coverage to reduce response-time gaps in critical hours.