Don't cry wolf!

There is a lady in our 1st due response territory that continues to call 911 for help over and over for reasons that do not warrant EMS response. Now, I will say that we get calls from people most everyday that they should have not called 911 for, but this woman gives a new meaning to "crying wolf". We have gotten called to help her down the steps, to help her to the dinner table, to help her to the car, and to help her into bed. One of the last times I actually called dispatch and reported her for abuse of the 911 emergency system. When a person gets reported for abuse of the system the next time a call goes out for that residence instead of dispatching us (rescue) they dispatch the head county Paramedic and he responds. This happened and she was informed that if she continued to call she would not get a response that it was very dangerous to do this because if something was ever really wrong no one would come to her aid. Well last week when my crew and I were on call at the station we heard our tones drop for that residence. Naturally we were not happy about it and some of the crew did not even want to respond because we knew it would just be another wasted trip. We marked en route anyway because even though we are not obligated to respond we knew if something actually was wrong we would feel bad for not going. On our way we asked for patient information and dispatch told us that she had said she was bleeding uncontrollably. Right! She'd tried that one before too! We got on scene and and I walked into the house in no big hurry whatsoever. When I got inside I heard the lady's husband yelling from the back bathroom, "Get in here!" Again, no big deal because they were always demanding and rude so I was used to the urgency in his voice. When I got to the bathroom the lady was sitting in a chair by the sink. The counter was covered in blood! The clamp on her dialysis port had come off and she was bleeding heavily. Both her and her husband were panicking! I was even caught off guard...this was an emergency! We finally got the bleeding controlled and got her to the hospital. Finally, this woman got the point! Real emergencies happen and if you abuse the system and call for help when you really don't need it you can get yourself in real trouble. In other words, "Don't cry wolf!"

Diagnosis: Inexperience

Anytime a crew gets dispatched for a call involving a Pediatric patient I think there is always an element of apprehension. One of the things that you are taught in emergency medicine is that kids are not "little adults". They can not be treated the same way because their body systems are so much different than that of an adult. Children are very resilient, which is a good thing, but they also have a tendency to compensate for a very long time and then crash all at once when you are least expecting it. My crew and I responded to a call for a three month old male that was having a seizure. We arrived to find a young mother standing outside of her residence holding her little baby. Naturally, we were all a bit nervous because we just don't see as many children in the back of the medic unit as we do adults. After we had checked the baby and were on the way to the hospital we came to the assumption that the baby had a seizure only because the fever had gotten so high. An experienced mother would have probably recognized this, but this young mother had no idea. We took the baby to the hospital and on the way I got the opportunity to "educate" this young mother on some things involving medical emergencies in children. Being able to teach and be able to prevent future emergencies is one of my favorite things to do!

Thoughts...

I have been looking into becoming a CPR/First Responder/EMT instructor. Being able to teach others to do what I am so passionate about doing would be amazing! I have helped with multiple classes, but would love to be able to implicate my thoughts and beliefs into the medical teachings. When people start out in emergency medicine they think they are invincible and that they can handle anything. Few instructors will tell you that you are helpless with out God. This fact has become so real to me in my experience in EMS and is a great comfort when despite your best efforts with perfect circumstances your patient dies. Likewise, I have cleared from calls and thought, "How on Earth did that person live?" I try to always remember when I mark en route to a call to pray for my patient and for God to allow me to use my medical skills to help the person I will soon come into contact with. I have personally seen miracles happen in the back of an ambulance! It is such an amazing place to work because truly every second counts!