Google Maps sends patients to a school miles away from their doctors' appointments

A Google Maps glitch sends families going to the doctor at the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services to a school miles away, causing them to miss their appointments.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ address is 1401 Rockville Pike in Rockville, but the Google Maps iPhone apps guides users to Grace Episcopal Day School in Kensington — six miles away.

“I use Google Maps all the time and I’ve never had it take me five miles away from my destination that I’m searching for,” Grace Episcopal Head of School Jennifer Danish said.

Over about an hour Wednesday, News4 met three people who went to the school thinking they were going to see an eye doctor.

“It’s, like, really surprising, ‘cause we walked up here, and we saw Grace on,” Caroline Gaudencio said. “We had no idea.”

The school estimates almost 100 people have shown up there because of the glitch over the past couple of months.

“We feel terrible, and I feel responsible, even though I know it’s not my fault,” Danish said.

The problem became so common, the school put signage on the front door with the address for the Subway across the street from HHS.

Many people showing up don’t speak English, so the school’s Spanish teacher, Marisa Martucci, says she often leaves class to translate.

“That was stressful,” she said, laughing. “That was really stressful. But, you know, we try to help. Community. We try to do our best.”

DHHS said it appears Google Maps has fixed the glitch, but the fix doesn’t show up until the search history is cleared.

First, open the app and tap the profile picture in the top right corner. Then hit settings and scroll down to Maps history. Set it to autodelete to clear everything out. It can be changed back afterward.

DHHS staff will help people with clearing their Google Maps app if needed, Montgomery County said.

Google said it’s looking into the matter.