Alright. As a First Responder, I want to tread lightly here. The last thing I want is to end up on the front page of USA Today, because somebody felt they were not having a life threatening emergency, and decided NOT to call 911, and died. That being said, on my twice weekly VOLUNTEER shifts, we see a lot of different things. Obviously, there are very valid reasons for calling 911. Please teach your friends, neighbors, children when you should and should not call 911.
These are actual calls where we were either called out, or we were called out by a friend, and the person refused to go to the hospital.
CALL 911:
– Somebody slips on the ice, and they hit their head on the sidewalk, and lose consciousness. if it is you, and you regain consciousness, go to the hospital. Conscious does not necessarily equal “fine”. Think: Natasha Richardson.
– You have sub sternal chest pain, radiating into both arms, difficulty breathing, and you are sweating. If you are not mowing the lawn on a hot summer day, go to the hospital.
– You ate something new, and now your lips and face are swelling up.
These are all situations that we came to, in our ambulance, but only because somebody else had called 911, and the patient, described above, either attempted or succeeded in refusing treatment.
DO NOT CALL 911:
– You are out of medication because you miscounted the pills and the pharmacy is closed.
– Your leg won’t stop shaking.
– You have had diarrhea for 4 days.
– Your kid ate a bug.
– Your kid has dirrhea.
– You have thrown up.
– Your child is acting lethargic at 1am. (Hint: He’s not lethargic. He’s sleepy.)
– You have a toothache. (They do not have dentists in the Emergency Room).
– You ran over a mailbox.
– You “overdosed” on three Excedrin. Three. (That’s not an overdose, that’s a Saturday Morning)
– You work in a nursing home, and your patient is yelling at you.
– You work in a nursing home, and you can’t get your patient to take his pills.
– You were in the ER waiting room, but the wait looked too long, so you went home and called 911. (Note: If your condition is not life threatening you will likely end up back in the waiting room, with an even larger bill for the transport).
The list goes on and on. Now, I’m not saying that all of these issues may not need some sort of attention. Eating a bug? It’s a little extra protein. Unless your child is out gathering insects in a box for a stir fry, you’re probably ok. And in some countries, he’d be hired as a chef. Had diarrhea for a week? Yeah, you’ve probably got something. Go see a doctor. Your patient yelling at you? Get a different job.
When 911 is called, your dispatchers make an assessment as to which resources at their disposal need to be allocated to your EMERGENCY. Depending on their positioning (they are not always in the station), the desired resources may not be as close as they would like. However, there may be other resources close by. It is not uncommon for the needed resource to be already committed, and the next closest needed resource could be in the next town over. In this instance, dispatchers will send first responders (police/fire) and maybe an ambulance carrying personnel with a different skill set to begin patient care, until the needed resource arrives. So, for your “overdose” of three Excedrin, you are potentially taking a police officer or two, a fire engine and one or two ambulances out of service, rendering them unable to respond to other emergencies.
There is also a school of thought that abuse of “the system” is also contributing to the rising costs of health care. I do have an opinion on that, and maybe we’ll discuss that in a future section, however I prefer not to make “political” statements, and the topic is too divisive right now.
Bottom line: Please consider whether or not you need to: 1) Go to the EMERGENCY ROOM, 2) Right Now, and 3) In an ambulance. No, we’re not lazy. Remember, I do this as a volunteer. However, I am concerned that one day soon, I will be with somebody who needs a “pharmacy run” and somebody a couple of blocks over will go into Cardiac Arrest, and the closest available resource will be 10 minutes away. 911 is for life threatening emergencies. It’s not for a toothache.
