Quote:
Originally Posted by flameswin
Yeah, I think I've dealt with some of the burnt out ones. I called 911 for a co-worker who fell ill and then basically collapsed (turns out he suffered a stroke). After others were tending to him and I had done everything the operator asked, I ran out to the road to direct the ambulance to the front door.
They kept a pretty slow pace as they pulled up. Then when they got out and had their equipment I was jogging to lead them to the guy, and turned around to find them just kind of slowly walking along with no intention of getting to the victim in a timely fashion. I kind of looked at them as if to say
"Seriously? Someone needs immediate emergancy care, and you look like a couple of fast food workers who were asked to work an extra hour".
Is that common? I assume if they know the emergancy and know that the one they'er responding to doesn't require a timely response, then fine. But I was under the impression that strokes are pretty serious and can worsen by the second if not treated by paramedics. Maybe my knowledge of strokes is off base?
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I can't really give you an idea if it's common or not, but I can tell you that one of our "rules" is "it's not our emergency" and what that means is don't rush to the patient and always be cautious.
This is for a couple of reasons. It could be icy outside, and running can cause us to slip which can be worse when carrying the trauma bags/O2/stretcher. There have been instances of uncautious medics being lead into situations that allowed them to be robbed. False heart attack and stroke calls have been used to lure medics into traps. I haven't seen it, it's just what I've been told.
However, I'm pretty sure you're not an unsavory character and your "work" is probably not a crackhouse, so the idea that the responders were dawdling is pretty annoying to me. I typically don't run to a patient, but I go there with a sense of urgency.
It may also have looked much different to you, if you were in a bit of a panic. When you've got the adrenalin pumping, you're ready to go and time might feel just a bit slower so to you they might have seemed more complacent. I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm just trying to look at it from another angle.
Edit: and with strokes, you have what's called the "golden hour" from when symptoms begin. It's crucial to get them to a hospital, or initiate a clot-buster (not in my scope) within that time. For further stroke awareness stuff, we use what's called the Cincinnati Stroke Scale. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinn...l_Stroke_Scale) so if anybody is interested in what to look for if they fear somebody has had a stroke, there ya go.