Have you or someone you know ever called an ambulance for .....
By CatClaws
@CatClaws (115)
United States
September 12, 2007 2:06am CST
something that wasn't a realy emergency? I am a paramedic and while I was on duty today, we called to a residence where supposedly an elderly female had called 911 and said, "I need help" and hung up. THe dispatcher tried to call her back but she wouldn't answer the phone. So we were sent out to her home. When we arrived, she opened the door and led us in. We asked her what was wrong with her, what had happened to make her call for emergency help. She said, "Oh honey, I do need help, I can't get my medicine bottles opened, and it is past time for me to take them." Can you believe that? Needless to say we opened her medicine bottles and left. Stuff like that really gets on my nerves. She had neighbors that were home on both sides of her home. She could have called one of them. What if someone was having a heart attack, or a stroke, or involved in a bad wreck, and we couldn't get there fast enough because we are on the other side of town opening medicine bottles? Do you know someone who has called 911 for something that wasn't a real emergency? Or someone who has called 911 and then the ambulance gets there and they refuse to go to the hospital?
2 people like this
2 responses
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
12 Sep 07
I used to work on the emergency board at the telephone exchange years ago, it wasn't unsual for us to get 300 calls in a half hour block which maybe only 3 or 4 might be genuine, mainly kids saying stupid things, I think things have changed these days not so many public phone boxes and I think the emergency services have caller ID...
@CatClaws (115)
• United States
12 Sep 07
hi lilaclady, i bet it was hard trying to weed out the real emergencies out of all those calls. the service i work for does have caller ID. and they have recently acquired the equipment to trace cell phone calls to an exact location. i went to my oldest daughters school and talked to her grade about how the emergency system works. i hope those will be a few that don't call 911 for a joke as most do. thank you again.
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