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How prepared are you for a medical emergency?
Have you ever dialed 911 for yourself or a loved one? What was that experience like from the moment emergency responders arrived to being admitted into the ER?
I recently interviewed a fire service paramedic and an ER nurse for a 2-part column series about what to expect of emergency responders from home to the hospital. They also offered tips for patients and caregivers to follow to help them help you.
Do you know why a fire truck might arrive before an ambulance? Have you ever felt impatient while waiting for answers at the ER? Do you know what medical information is important to have on hand during emergencies?
These are some of the concerns addressed in the columns “Answering the call: What emergency responders do, Part 1” and “Answering the call: What emergency responders do, Part 2”.
Share with us what you found most helpful during a medical emergency.
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2 Replies
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Now thats a good topic Colleen. I have had two occasions where I have had to dial OOO (911)in Aust. First time came across middle age jogger unresponsive on ground. No one around, Checked vitals and rang OOO . She guided me on performing resuscitation, two compresses per second . No mouth to mouth, and if you don’t break a rib or two your not doing it right., and stayed with me till paramedics arrived she was terrific but boy made me work hard. I had committed the cardinal sin of not dragging the person off the road to safety. Paras wanted time I arrived etc.etc.
Second was when the boss fell on her face between two cars in car park Rang 000 gave 000 person full detail of wife’s medical including she was a bleeder so when para medics arrived they were not shocked to see blood everywhere . They had already began ringing hospitals . Did you know some emergency dept. will not accept bleeders on weekends ,especially privates in Aust. Perhaps it was because it was height of covid.
Paras had full medical of wife by the time we got to emergency. There was a bank up of ambulances waiting to admit their patients but those guys in front waved us through to head of queue. How good was that.My experience with ER that day .Zip. They would not let me in because of covid .
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I have only needed to dial 911 to come to my house one time. Actually, my husband called because I could not breathe well enough to talk. It was a strange feeling for the paramedics to come in to attend to me, but I was so thankful for the oxygen they applied!
Another time someone called 911 was when my mom (she passed 2 years ago) 😪 and I were getting out of the car at church and she fell backwards. She had a nasty cut on the back of her head requiring stitches; I was terrified that she had broken bones, but thankfully she hadn’t. The church friends were awesome to help until paramedics arrived. They were wonderful to my mother (she had dementtia and couldn’t comprehend what was going on). The paramedics even let me ride up front in the passenger seat to the hospital and encouraged me to talk to mom en route to help calm her.
Another time I was airlifted from one hospital to another with respiratory failure. The 2 parametics/pilot were wonderful, so compassionate. Normally I would have been frightened to fly, but was so sick I did not mind that day!
I’m grateful for the first responders. I live in a rural area, and our rescue/fire depts are volunteer. Even so, they still get there in a hurry and are very well trained for their job.
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