The Basin's Dirtiest Jobs - Emergency Medical Technicians - November 2011

XTO Drill - EMTs and fire fighters had the chance

to practice their response time.

By: Angela Hanberg
    "9-1-1. What is your emergency?"
    If you've ever had to hear this, you have probably hoped that the dispatcher has immediately called out an ambulance and that they're coming your direction, gear in hand, ready to save your bacon from whatever mess you might be in at the time.
    What if it's not actually an emergency though? I remember learning about this in grade school. They fire department or EMTs would come into class and give us the run-down on what to do when and if we had to call 9-1-1. I had a turn once: They asked me what my emergency was, I said my house was on fire, they said "Where are you?" I said, "Here on the phone talking to you..." I failed that exercise, I guess I was supposed to say I was at the neighbor's house, not my own which was on fire. DUH.
    Believe it or not, there are times when our friendly Emergency Medical Technicians could be tied up on a non-emergency call when they are actually needed elsewhere. One particularly frustrating incident involved a call out involving CPR in progress. Imagine being in their shoes, running with lights and sirens, heading to a scene that could be a lost cause any second, worried you're wasting precious seconds getting around traffic, only to show up on scene and discover the "victim" is in the bathroom on the toilet. The caller admitted, "We knew you'd get here faster if we told you we were doing CPR." I'm sure there are many times they have to just bite their tongues.


Back to our grade-school training:



What do you do BEFORE calling 9-1-1?

This helicopter is the newest addition to the

Gold Cross Ambulance’s tool box.

    Make sure it's an honest emergency. Even the commercials tell us to call only to report a fire, save a life, or to report a crime in progress. The ambulance is NOT a taxi service. You shouldn't call 911 because you're too drunk to drive and need more beer. You shouldn't call 911 if you have a bad case of the sniffles and can't make the runny nose stop. You shouldn't call 911 to ask if their refrigerator is running and that they need to catch it. Every time a call is made, it ties up the lines and makes it harder for someone with a real emergency to get the help they need.

What information do you need DURING the call to 9-1-1?

    Make sure you know your address. Or at least the street number and a really great description of the house. Getting the wrong information is as bad as getting a call to a non-emergency: both waste precious minutes that are needed to save lives. You also need to be able to relay the events that have or are happening in order to give the EMTs a heads-up to the situation they're about to be in control of.

What should you do when the emergency workers arrive?

    Get the heck out of the way. These men and women have been trained to take care of emergency situations. That's what they're here for, it's their job and it's why we called them in the first place. Get out of their way and let them do their job. Also, don't be tough. Don't try to act like you've got everything under control and don't need them. Don't treat them with disrespect. If you wake up tied to a stretcher and cop an attitude about not needing any help well guess what Buddy, you wrecked your bike (or 4-wheeler, or car, or tote-goat, or hotwheels...) you've been unconscious for the last half hour, the kind stranger who found your limp body called 911 for you, you have no say at this point. They're there to help and save your sorry butt so be gracious. The same goes for the on-call folks at the different activities at venues here in town (rodeo, demolition derby, Diamond Mountain Speedway, etc.) The whole reason they are available to you is to keep you safe, healthy and alive.

Dan and Angela on Safety Fair Duty at

K-Mart

    You might ask why would an EMT be a Dirty Job. While some in this profession will admit to being "trauma junkies" and needing their fix, you don't have to use too much of your imagination to figure out why this has got to be up in the top 10 of the dirtiest jobs around. Please be kind to these individuals. Treat them with respect. You never know when it might be your own butt strapped to the stretcher.
For information regarding our local Gold Cross, contact Scott Adams, Director of Operations at 435-789-6907. You can also check out www.whentocall911.com for more information on emergency situations.