Stories: When friends/family call you instead of 911

[bstone]

My friends and family know that I'm an EMT and they've all seen me in uniform going to and from work. This means that they sometimes ask me questions about EMS and when to call 911 and when not to. A few years ago I got a call from a friend who wants to know if he should call 911. His grand mother "isn't feeling well" and "has some discomfort in her chest". I said "ask her if it feels like there is an elephant sitting on her chest" to which she replies "yes, worse". I then said "call 911 right away, don't delay, call now". Turns out the was active infarcting.

I would have been much happier had he simply called 911 right away instead of calling me. He lost maybe 1-2 minutes of time by calling me instead of 911 and time is heart.

What are your stories?

 

[DesertMedic66]

It's two fold in my family. I am the EMT so I will get the "what should we do?". And then everyone calls my Aunt who is a nurse for the ongoing care haha.

 

[stlukescj11]

It's two fold in my family. I am the EMT so I will get the "what should we do?". And then everyone calls my Aunt who is a nurse for the ongoing care haha.

Same here, I get the what should we do phone calls. My nephew put his tooth through his lip a few weeks ago and I got a call if they should go to the hospital because I am the EMT.

 

[feldy]

Friend called...to see if i could come over to check to see if his finger was broken and if he needed an ambulance.

 

[fortsmithman]

My friends and family cannot call 911 because we don't have 911 service in the NWT.

 

[Nattens]

Got a call from my Dad once because Mum was experiencing severe chest pain in bed one night.

My response before he said anything else "Are you :censored::censored::censored::censored:ing serious? Call an ambulance"

Thankfully it was GIT related however I'd prefer them to get an ambulance to confirm this rather than me do an over the phone consult.

 

[responder44]

People call me to see if I'm around the station and want to come by for a 12 Lead EKG. Guess they think we get free electrodes from the LifePak fairy.

 

[605medic]

I get friends/family calling all the time to see what I would do for an ear ache...etc. If they don't like my answer they ask me to hand the phone to my wife who is a nurse.

 

[Epi-do]

My family finally quit asking me stuff after I started asking them if they called their doctors or telling them that was what they needed to do since I wasn't there to see what was going on.

 

[Akulahawk]

I get called a lot simply because I do know a lot... Mostly it results in me clarifying their thoughts and they decide on their own what needs to be done. At work I get a different set of calls. Mostly those are "do you have the number for the Fire Station? I have a question about..." and of course it's a medical problem. Most of the time it's a 911 problem and they didn't want to have all the commotion and actually call 911...

 

[CritterNurse]

I'm starting to get questions like those, and I'm not even finished my Basic course yet.

And then there's my grandmother... She always calls my family before calling an ambulance. A few weeks ago, she called me asking me to bring her to the hospital. I could clearly hear her difficulty breathing over the phone. She definitely sounded like she needed some oxygen at a minimum, and considering her medical history, I wanted her to call an ambulance. The visiting nurse who had stopped in to get some blood drawn for some routine lab work wanted her to call an ambulance. I live 45 minutes away from her, in good driving conditions and low traffic. It was almost rush hour. She didn't want to bother the 'busy EMTs'. I did manage to get her to the ER, but that was a very nerve wracking drive to go get her and get her to the hospital.

 

[firetender]

Don't forget that people like to talk to people first and there is some resistance to "plugging into an impersonal machine" which is what happens whn you call 9-1-1.

I'm not dissing 9-1-1 but I am reflecting on how, at that stage of unsurety about an emergency, human contact, connection and reassurance is important.

 

[MedicBender]

The most frequent calls I get are for translation.

My grandfather was recently admitted to the ICU for a host of issues. While my uncle is a doctor, he was busy managing care and ensuring my grandpa was admitted to the unit he felt was best.

Most of my family has no experiencing in the medical field, a few of my aunts are nurses, but they've been out of the field for decades.

So when the doctors started giving us status updates, I was called in to translate. When people called in to find out what the situation was looking like, the phone was passed to me.

I think firetender nailed it on the head. It's about human contact and connection. Maybe it's easier to hear it from family then from doctors, or maybe it's a trust thing. When speaking to my grandfathers team of doctors they were great at explaining the situation to me. While I hate playing the "telephone" game, if it helps my family to hear it from me instead of someone they just met, then I'm happy to help.

 

[johnrsemt]

I have been called a few times for medical questions: I always find out in advance what the non 911 number is for dispatch where my family lived; and if it needs to be a 911 call and they won't do it; I will.
Especially useful when I lived 1500 miles away.

Never be afraid to call 911 for your family when they refuse to be smart enough to listen to you and do it themselves.

 

[mycrofft]

It goes the other way too.

As a healthcare professional I have had the experiences of not being properly educated about MY care by medical staff because they assume I know it all, or if I'm with the family at the hospital for someone I am "appointed" to brief and tell the family by way of the staff telling me, then they walk off.

As for the other way around, as in the OP, I have a card to toss that says "You really need to see your doctor about that".

PS: know what the cost is when you dial 911 then they take you to the ED?? h34r: !!!!!

 

[Always BSI]

Last year around Christmas I was sleeping all of a sudden my dad wakes me up at 3:30 am "Your mom stopped breathing"

Me: "What the **** dad, call 911!

I ran to the room only to find my mom choking in her sleep she had a night mare or something she was fine but it scared the crap outta me. I still don't understand what my dad was thinking.

 

[Veneficus]

My friends and family know that I'm an EMT and they've all seen me in uniform going to and from work. This means that they sometimes ask me questions about EMS and when to call 911 and when not to. A few years ago I got a call from a friend who wants to know if he should call 911. His grand mother "isn't feeling well" and "has some discomfort in her chest". I said "ask her if it feels like there is an elephant sitting on her chest" to which she replies "yes, worse". I then said "call 911 right away, don't delay, call now". Turns out the was active infarcting.

I would have been much happier had he simply called 911 right away instead of calling me. He lost maybe 1-2 minutes of time by calling me instead of 911 and time is heart.

What are your stories?

Get used to it. I have strangers coming to my house now asking for help.

 

[xshellyx]

When Im around my friends they always assume I know everything and can take care of them (which I don't mind doing MOST of the time). This past weekend however, we were up in Big Bear and had gone snowboarding for the day, but when we got back to the cabin my friend started complaining that his wrist hurt. He explained that he fell on it pretty hard and thought it was broken. All my guy friends looked to me and immediately asked "Is it broken?! You're the EMT!" It was slightly swollen but there was no deformity or anything. I just responded with "Oh yea let me pull my xray machine out of my pocket." Because I felt bad (and to make him stop crying) I splinted it with a few things we found around the cabin and gave him some advil and he was good. Later that night a few of the guys got a little too intoxicated and started puking all over the carpet, and of course, the EMT had to clean it up because no one else could stomach the smell, and they insisted it was my job....

 

[katgrl2003]

...of course, the EMT had to clean it up because no one else could stomach the smell, and they insisted it was my job....

Ewwww. I can't handle the sight or smell of vomit... which is why I'm glad my partner is a medic and can give zofran.

 

[untico]

i just finished school for emtb and my father in law thinks im an md now.... he calls me for every pain and ache he gets and the other day my mother in law got stung by 2 different bees outside their house and he calls me right away asking what should they do about it.. to what i answered clear and simple: keep looking at her and if she looks weird or stops breathing call 911