Having a heart attack? Call 911... maybe

[capncrunch]

A recent Canadian Press article says, Having a heart attack? Forget about driving to the ER and call 911, doctors say. The point of the article is that you're better off waiting for the ambulance to show up than trying to drive to the hospital.

But wait a sec... maybe not...

• 911 delays a chronic problem - granted, it wasn't a health issue, it was a policing issue, but still, if someone calls 911, shouldn't first responders get there quickly?
• Call for Help - outlines some tragedies whereby 911 calls were either put on hold, ignored or otherwise mishandled
• Calgary response to botched 911 dispatch 'appropriate' - yet another mishandled 911 response

So what's the lesson?

If you need 911 services, call them. They'll probably respond appropriately.

Probably...

 

[a 1 player]

I drove myself to the hospital when I had my heart attack. As one can see, it worked out well.

 

[sailorsix]

I called 911. Firefolks were there within 5 minutes, ambulance shortly thereafter. 20 minutes after the call I was in emerge.

Walking into emerge just has you arriving in another triage queue with all the folks who are there cuz their tummy hurts.

 

[a 1 player]

Walking into emerge just has you arriving in another triage queue with all the folks who are there cuz their tummy hurts.

I walked to the front of the line in emergency, had tears running down my cheeks the pain was so bad, slapped my health card on the desk, pointed to my heart because I couldn't speak and threw up right in front of the administrator. The best service I have ever got anywhere in my life. In less that 2 minutes I was on a table, breathing oxygen, chewing on an asprin, taking blood and them putting that big octopus thing on my body.

 

[Sasha Jones]

Most emergency rooms have signs that say if you are having chest pains to tell the nurse immediately, that usually moves you right to the front of the line.

 

[sailorsix]

Well the other reason for calling 911 was that we had just returned home from dinner. I was the DD and my wife was not able to drive safely.

i chewed 2 ASA's while waiting for the firefolks. The emerge folks said that made a positive difference. The other thing I did, and I remembered it from a Powerpoint that a friend had emailed me months before, was to cough regularly. The theory was that the coughing action helped keep blood flowing. I have since read that its benefits are iffy...http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4535

Anyone over 45 who does not take a baby aspirin a day deserves to die. It is cheap insurance.

 

[tboy]

...... another triage queue with all the folks who are there cuz their tummy hurts.

WHich is THE reason there are delays with 911 and long long waits in hospital emerg rooms.....

Due to the laws saying that no one can be turned away from medical treatment anyone coming in with the sniffles has to be seen. If I was in charge I'd see them, diagnose them, then hit them with a bill for $1,000.00 for wasting my time.

And they ask why men don't go to the hospital? I cut my finger pretty bad this past summer with a cut off grinder blade and needed a few stitches. I called all the local clinincs and hospitals in my area and all the clinics were booked solid until closing, the hospitals had about a 3 hr wait, so I tried stitching it myself...(my needle wasn't sharp enough to penetrate the skin). So I taped in closed and went back to work.

 

[The Cunning Linguist]

The proudest I ever was of my partner was when my mother was dying of cancer, and she interceded in emergency on my behalf when I drove her (my mother) to the hospital for the last time. I was emotionally paralyzed, and when I went to park the car, my partner got a wheelchair, got my mother in it, and wheeled it right past all the parents with kids with a boo-boo on their finger, all the drunks with a headache, all the narcotic seekers, and told the admitting nurse "this lady is dying of cancer, she's in agony, and I want her admitted RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

My mother was in a bed, hooked up to an IV, etc, before I got to the waiting room.

 

[tboy]

A few years back, in the GTA, I called 911 when someone had a heart attack & was on hold for a minute... hung up, called back, was on hold for 2 more minutes before I was able to talk to someone.

Yup, thank all the people calling 911 about barking dogs, the sniffles, a cat up a tree etc.

I say stop the automatic charges on our phone bills for 911 service and charge back anyone calling 911 for non emergency calls $100.00.

 

[capncrunch]

Yup, thank all the people calling 911 about barking dogs, the sniffles, a cat up a tree etc.

I say stop the automatic charges on our phone bills for 911 service and charge back anyone calling 911 for non emergency calls $100.00.

While they're not charging people in the UK for just such calls, they are publicizing - in hopes of shaming - some of the stupider calls.

For example (actual calls to the emergency services):

• "My wife has left me two salmon sandwiches, which was left over from last night... She won't put any food out or anything."
• "I've lost my glasses, the one's that are for my near sight... I'm trying to do my lunch and I can't see to do my potatoes."

http://news.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029694,49298356,00.htm

 

[Ashton.]

Dispatcher: 9-1-1 What is your emergency?
Caller: Someone broke into my house and took a bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich.
Dispatcher: Excuse me?
Caller: I made a ham and cheese sandwich and left it on the kitchen table and when I came back from the bathroom, someone had taken a bite out of it.
Dispatcher: Was anything else taken?
Caller: No, but this has happened to me before and I'm sick and tired of it

Dispatcher: 9-1-1
Caller: Yeah, I'm having trouble breathing. I'm all out of breath. Darn....I think I'm going to pass out.
Dispatcher: Sir, where are you calling from?
Caller: I'm at a pay phone. North and Foster.
Dispatcher: Sir, an ambulance is on the way. Are you an asthmatic?
Caller: No
Dispatcher: What were you doing before you started having trouble breathing?
Caller: Running from the Police.



Caller: I think I'm having an overdose and so's my wife.
Dispatcher: Overdose of what?
Caller: Marijuana. I don't know if there was something in it. Can you please send rescue?
Dispatcher: Do you guys have a fever or anything?
Caller: No, I'm just, I think we're dying.
Dispatcher: How much did you guys have?
Caller: I don't know. We made brownies. And I think we're dead. Time is going by really really really slow.