You called for what??

So... I have some folks who read this blog and friends who scoff at my callousness at some of my patients. They don't seem to understand some of the ridiculous calls we get and the absurd abuse of Public Safety / Emergency Services. Well, let me give you two glaring examples of this abuse and then if you multiply it by the ballpark 9 calls per shift times every shift and hopefully you'll entertain my (albeit "our" aka public safety) frustration.

Now for those of you that are not in public safety, a little foundation. We treat every call when dispatched unless otherwise told (which these calls are not the root of this discussion) as a life or death emergency. By traveling lights and sirens the average 2-6 miles to your location, traveling at a higher rate of speed, weaving through traffic... most often with other drivers competing with us for the lane, the right of way, whatever which puts our lives and other drivers' lives in danger for your call. Now if its a true life or death I have absolutely NO problem at all with this risk. Its a weighed risk, a risk of helping someone who without our skills or equipment would otherwise be in more pain, more distress, whatever. Time of day shouldn't matter, and in a true emergency it doesn't matter at all. But these abuse calls, at 0300am tend to add insult to injury.

Ok.. now on to the 2 examples that just took place.

We get dispatched to a severe respiratory distress. Generally implies Asthma, COPD, CHF or a cardiac event. Any of these can be deadly so we are on the ball, out the door, and down the street. Imagine, at 12M, you get such a call. You pull up to the residence, grab your gear and head to the door when you see a gentleman in the driveway who says, "Whoa... hey, thanx for coming... I really just need a jump for my car." E....Ex....Excuse me?????? Your kidding right? "No, I just needed a jump for my car and called 911" So, you're not having any respiratory problems? "Well, I was about 15 min ago, but I'm fine now" AAGHH #^%&#&^!!!!


I want to know who raises folks to believe that 911 is the end all be all of anything you need whether it be shoe polish, a jump for your car or your pooch. Speaking of pooch.....


The next call, about 2 hours later... yes 0200am was from a guy who locked his dog in the car. Now, middle of summer, 12N, 100 degrees outside... fine, I'll grant some leeway. We're still just gonna break your window. But its 60 degrees and.... and.... there is a 1/4" opening in the window and his sister could be on her way with a spare key, but he didn't feel like waiting that long. So he calls 911. If only he could really grasp the thought that you,his neighbor down the street, who's just been shot or is having a heart attack is going to have to wait for responders from 2 territories away because we're on this call. But I doubt he ever will.

I, as well as any other public safety professional, could go on and on. I would love to create a PSA. To try and educate our general public and remind them what 911 (& an EMERGENCY room) is there for. And that there is now 311, 411, 511... the phone book and the Internet to get information that is not an emergency.

As for the calls we ran tonight... we ran an OB call in the local WalMart. We all talked about the movie where the girl gives birth in Walmart on the way there. Our pt's water had broken in a grocery aisle .... "clean up on aisle 11"... Anyways. Whew.... hhhmmmmm... she's 26 years old. 7th pregnancy. Yes, 7th. 28 weeks with no contractions, last pregnancy was 11 months ago. She's used to the drill. All vitals were good, so we helped load her into the rescue and off they went. I'm gonna try and get some sleep while I can. Stay safe out there.