In two hours, I have answered 2 911 calls. The kind of calls where ALL my medics haul *ss to get to the patient. Where the person isn't breathing and/or has no pulse. They are going into arrest.
The first one was a man in his 60's and he apparently overdosed on crack cocaine. My caller was not with the patient and didn't know very much except someone was trying to do CPR. Then the 'someone trying to do CPR' came to the phone!! So much for CPR in progress.. The police officers were first on scene and were doing CPR when EMS pulled up. They managed to get him back, and he was alert and responsive all the way to the hospital. My EMS is awesome.
Next 911 call I answered was an elderly lady who said they just brought her husband home from the hospital and he was in a bad way. It was bad because she had to relay what I said to another person due to the cord on the phone. However, I gotta hand it to her, she was a great caller and repeated everything almost exactly. It came out that the man was not responsive and was not breathing effectively. So I started to give CPR instructions. Then the same 2 officers from the first code arrived on scene and took over doing CPR again!
Talk about getting hands on practice for the officers and myself. You really have no idea how difficult it is to try and walk some people through CPR over the phone. If the people have some training, it's not to bad, but if they have no idea what to do, even giving crystal clear instructions, I'm not physically there to correct them if they make a mistake. After 5 years, I've gotten much better at giving the instructions, (I could probably even talk a wall through CPR now) but there are still people that have no idea what to do. Think about it like this, try to walk someone through your house over the phone while they are blind-folded. You are familiar with the layout, but you can't guide them physically and they may have a general knowledge of the house, but it's not the same because they can't see. I digress, back to the 2nd patient.
The man was basically dead when PD/EMS got on scene. Yet I have the privilege to say that because of the caller's calm actions, my PD/EMS quick response and awesome training and treatment, the man is alive again. I am extremely proud of them all.
Song for the post: Electric Light Orchestra - Fire On High
Ugh
1 year ago
I stumbled across your blog and I'm glad I did! This post cracks me up (I'm a medic!) and the whole time I was thinking about a call I ran once.
ReplyDeleteIt was in the "bottoms" in an old, falling in house. The guy was in his 60's and ODed on ETOH and crack. There was no hope for the poor fella.
A perfect song for this post would be "Another One Bites the Dust." I don't remember who its by and before you think I'm some crazy sicko, the beat is the perfect rate to deliver CPR! :) I sing it in my head when I'm doing compressions!