Just Tell Them To Hurry Up!!!

It's funny how differently people react to emergency situations. Some people are as calm as can be, and others will completely freak out. Heard the story one time from another dispatcher who took a call from an elderly man one morning. He had fallen and broken his hip while trying to get back into bed in the middle of the night. He had his phone right next to him on his lamp stand, but waited for the rest of the night just laying on the floor, unable to move, because he didnt want to bother anyone in the middle of the night. He finally called around 8am and asked for an ambulance.

In today's call, a man in his 30's was eating and got some food stuck in his throat blocking his airway. He had his brother there during this call. Unfortunately, brother was freakin out. The mom is the one who made the 911 call and was actually somewhat calm. I was trying to find out if the brother knew how to do the heimlich. So as I was talking to the mom, the brother was screaming at the top of his lungs in the background, "Just tell them to hurry up!!!" He kept screaming this literally about every 3 or 4 seconds. I asked the mom if he was doing the heimlich and she turned and tried to ask him but he still just kept screaming the same thing over and over. One time he yelled "Tell them to quit asking f***ing questions and hurry up!!" I told the mom several times that they were on their way with lights and sirens, running red lights, coming as fast as they could, and would be there soon. In the meantime let me try and help you help him. Well that convinced her and she tried to tell the same to the gooberhead in the background, but he just wouldnt quit freaking out. But just before fire fighters arrived he somehow managed to get the guy to cough it up. I'm thinking that was a miracle.

I'm bettin tomorrow this guy's gonna be going around bragging about how he saved his brother's life, but if I were there, I'd love to take him down a notch or two. By freaking out like that, you only cause more problems then you solve.

Sad thing is, this happens alot. And it's one of the worst things we deal with. So many times, people have called 911 and will say just send someone NOW! and then hang up. We don't know if someone's hurt, if somebody has a gun, we won't know who the victim is and who the aggressor is. Many times a victim has managed to turn the tables on their attacker, but when officers get there, they may think that the victim is actually the one who needs to be arrested, because no one told them anything.

Another thing is we don't have transporter technology quite yet, so if we go somewhere, we have to do it the old fashioned way and drive. During that drive, we can continuously feed info to and update the cops or firefighters en route. There's plenty of opportunity to get more info and even give instructions that can save lives. I could have easily walked this guy through the heimlich but he was too busy freaking out and behaving like an idiot to listen and start helping the poor guy out.

So I guess today's post is a sermon, but the lesson to be learned is: If you call 911 during an emergency, keep your cool and answer their questions. They arent asking because they are bored and curious. They are asking for the people on the way who want to know whats going on before they get there.