Atlanta-area postal worker Shannon Barnes collapsed on the job on Sunday, August 18 from a brain aneurysm and later died, after her co-workers were unable to call 911 in a timely manner due to a lack of cellphone coverage in the vast facility where they worked.
Barnes, a 48-year-old mother, worked at the US Postal Service’s Regional Distribution Center in Palmetto, Georgia. It was a full 30 minutes after losing consciousness before she received medical attention, and by then it was too late. Doctors later told Barnes’ family she had already passed away by the time she reached the hospital.
Reporters from WSB-TV in Atlanta interviewed workers at the facility, who reported that they were unable to place calls or text messages inside the building, or even call 911. It has been reported that an employee had to leave the facility to find a cell signal and call an ambulance, a critical delay that may have cost Barnes’ her life