Maryland
Maryland families asking for answers after map error causes confusion
Maryland families asking for answers after map error causes confusion
Over a hundred families in Maryland have missed important appointments, due an error on the map that wrongly redirects them to a school.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. – Over a hundred families in Maryland are missing important appointments, including doctor’s visits due to an error on the map.
Instead of showing up to Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services building, they’re ending up at Grace Episcopal Day School in Kensington.
“There is a glitch with the mapping system, and they are ending up miles from their destination,” said Jennifer Danish, head of school at Grace Episcopal.
About 6 miles to be exact and 15 minutes away with no traffic.
Danish who sometimes has to go outside and help re-direct families who are dropped off via ride-share of the bus.
“They think they are going to HHS of Montgomery County for all kinds of services, dental appointments, doctors’ appointments, tax issues,” Danish adds.
But when they put in ‘1401 Rockville Pike’ the pin brings them to the school.
Melissa Lafionatis, the director of enrollment and strategy, says in many cases English isn’t the first language of the families she’s trying to help.
“I was trying to communicate with this family via Google Translate and I thought that they were asking for an application for their small child, only to discover they were trying to get an appointment for prenatal information,” said Lafionatis.
They’ve reached out to county and state leaders, including Rep. Jamie Raskins; as well as Google to try to get some help.
“They have an option where you can move the pin on the map to move the location to where it’s supposed to be,” but the location is still incorrect.
So until they get some answers, they’ve put out signs in front of doors directing people to the right location in Rockville.
“We’ve translated into Spanish for them, so it can be helpful,” said Lafionatis.
Danish says she feels terrible – she understands it’s not her fault, but something needs to be done.
“These appointments seem really important, so we want to get this solved,” she adds.
FOX 5 DC did reach out to leaders of the county, and they tell us they’ve reached out to Google five times requesting the pin change, and they are waiting to hear back.