During my almost ten years as a 911 responder, I have discovered that there are really two things that break my heart while on duty. Anyone who has kids, as I do, will probably understand that the first is almost any emergency involving a child. True, in the vast majority of pediatric 911 calls, the parents are in worse shape than the kid, but in the situations where a child has been hurt (or worse) are situations that cause me to lose sleep, to say the least. The second is the vast majority of our cardiac arrest calls.
In the ambulance, we receive three announcements when a call is dispatched. The first is the type of emergency, with the address, and the closest units, which are to respond. The second announcement immediately follows and repeats the first. The third announcement comes after all the units dispatched have respond, and repeats the first two announcements, and includes whatever additional information the dispatchers have received in the interim, and feel we should know before we get on scene. So it goes like this: “Ambulance 601, Medic 615, Engine 639, respond to the Cardiac Arrest at 123 Main Street. Ambulance 601, Medic 615, Engine 639, respond to the Cardiac Arrest at 123 Main Street.” After all units inform dispatch that they are responding, then we get “Ambulance 601, Medic 615, Engine 639, respond to the Cardiac Arrest at 123 Main Street. 55 year old mail, collapsed in front of the store. Caller reports patient is not breathing, and is turning pale and blue. Caller is refusing CPR instructions. Nothing further.”
Yes, you read that last part right. In the vast majority of cardiac arrest calls that I run, there is either nobody available to do CPR, or nobody willing. Most 911 dispatchers have very good instructions that they can read to the person who calls 911, to get them started on CPR, if they have never learned it. Sadly, far too many folks who decided to call 911, refuse the instructions, and wait for EMS to arrive.
Of course, by this time, it is probably going to be too late. In sudden cardiac arrest, emergency responders have about 6 minutes (maybe less) to deliver a shock from an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator), to have the best chance of not only saving the patient, but at allowing them to have a reasonable quality of life afterwards. When you take into account the time it takes to recognize an emergency and call 911, speak with dispatchers, and get EMS rolling, we don’t have long to get there. If there is some quality CPR happening right away, circulating oxygen and blood through the system, that buys us another 5-6 minutes to deliver the shock. THAT is what makes the difference between life and death, a lot of times.
So, while cardiac arrests will continue to happen (face it, we just don’t take cery good car of ourselves, and even for those that do, you never know when your “warranty” will be up), the real tragedy isn’t that people won’t learn CPR. That’s bad enough. The real tragedy is that they won’t try.
One of the reasons I decided to make CPR and First Aid Education a major component of my company, is to cut down on some of the heartbreak I’ve seen. There are enough things we can’t control in this world. Let’s impact the things that we can.
