Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Its awful that someone would be put on hold dialing 911. This happens because sometimes call volume to high for the number of dispatchers.
So I thought I would take this as an opportunity for some 911 education.
If you are going to call 911 please only call if it is a TRUE emergency. Do not call 911 if you stubbed your toe. Do not call 911 if you or someone else can drive to the hospital because you think going by ambulance will get you seen faster in the emergency room (it won't.)
I have volunteered on the ambulance for many years, and the number of calls that I go on that are real emergencies that truly need an ambulance are very small in comparison to those that do not.
When you call 911 for something that is not a real emergency, you are tying up valuable resources. When you call because you want an ambulance for your stubbed toe, you are taking the time of a dispatcher. You are then putting a police car and an ambulance on the road to respond to you. The ambulance is now out of commission when your neighbor down the road has a heart attack or stroke and needs immediate attention.

Of course, please understand that by "you" I am not referring to anyone specific on here. It was Jess's post that reminds me about this happening on the ambulance all the time, and it occurred to me that when a true emergency is put on hold it could be because dispatchers are tied up with those "stubbed toes."

Message edited 11/2/2007 11:23:54 PM.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

I agree! I did an internship and sat in on 911 calls and it was terribly sad hearing all the "non-emergency" related calls

IMO: it was a lot of old people with non-emergency calls, I think they get lonely

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

we once had some vandalism on our fence- i called the police station to report it, and I was told that I had to call 911 so they could send a car out to me. I was very hesitant about doing so, but that is what the police station said I should always do...

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

I took my DH to the ER once for an injury. The woman in the bed next to him was complaining about back pain - She was (from all tests) clearly fine and we gathered from the conversation she had with the doc that she frequents the ER (probably for attention). In fact, the doc refused to give her a prescription (she flat out asked for it) for the pain and told her it was nothing that Advil wouldn't cure. (This was a good doc - he also treated DH)

We learned through overhearing the conversation that the woman came by ambulance. She was there with THREE people, all of whom were there with her when she called 911, all of whom had cars, and all of whom could have driven her. One person even drove behind the ambulance. The woman walked out of there - totally fine. When the doctor asked why she came by ambulance in this circumstance, she basically didn't know. She said her back hurt, so she called 911 b/c she needed to go to the hospital.

The doctor exercised a tremendous amount of restraint, but DID make it clear how totally unacceptable that was. I can't believe someone would call 911 in that situation. DH was hurt far worse than she was and I just drove him... Not a big deal.

Some people thrive on the attention and some people are just head cases.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Once I called the precinct because there were some kids on the B-Ball court in front of my house at 3 am with thier car on the court and thier brights blaring in my bedroom window so they could see the court..

They told me they couldn't help me and I HAD to call 911... WTH???? I was so nervous about calling 911 for that. I did.. but I hated it.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

i called 911 once, my dad was unresponsive, no heartbeat, no breathing...after call i started CPR and got him breathing, but still wasnt responsive. got tired of waiting for ambulance, had my brother call again. finally 20 mins later they showed up. NUMC hospital is like 2 mins by car away.

Why did it take so long? Did they figure no rush hes dead? this upsets me b/c i wasnt supposed to be home, i left a date 1/2 hour earlier b/c i didn't feel right. My mom and bro dont know cpr, my dad wouldnt be here now if i wasnt home

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Posted by BabySammie

i called 911 once, my dad was unresponsive, no heartbeat, no breathing...after call i started CPR and got him breathing, but still wasnt responsive. got tired of waiting for ambulance, had my brother call again. finally 20 mins later they showed up. NUMC hospital is like 2 mins by car away.

Why did it take so long? Did they figure no rush hes dead? this upsets me b/c i wasnt supposed to be home, i left a date 1/2 hour earlier b/c i didn't feel right. My mom and bro dont know cpr, my dad wouldnt be here now if i wasnt home

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Posted by SweetTooth

Posted by BabySammie

i called 911 once, my dad was unresponsive, no heartbeat, no breathing...after call i started CPR and got him breathing, but still wasnt responsive. got tired of waiting for ambulance, had my brother call again. finally 20 mins later they showed up. NUMC hospital is like 2 mins by car away.

Why did it take so long? Did they figure no rush hes dead? this upsets me b/c i wasnt supposed to be home, i left a date 1/2 hour earlier b/c i didn't feel right. My mom and bro dont know cpr, my dad wouldnt be here now if i wasnt home

OMG I am so glad you were able to save your dad!!
I don't know why it took so long- you are in Nassau? Most of the ambulances there paid.

I was talking more of the medical 911 calls than the police 911 calls. There are a lot of uncessary calls to 911 for medical reasons.
The biggest reason is people think it will get them seen faster in the ER.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

kudos to you, for posting this. my sister has been a 911 operator for close to 8 years, and i am a cop for 4 years (and i come from a family of cops as well) and if we could tell you the stories of what people call 911 for. it's just so...
"oh yes, i'm sorry, let me arrest your brother for eating the last piece of chicken, i'm sure no one else needs me for any emergency"
"um, excuse me, you need the police because you have a electronic toothbrush stuck up your vaga-ga?!"

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

UGH DH is FDNY and they do EMS runs as well, the stories I could tell

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

there are other options to 911. when dh hurt his knee, his friend called the farmingdale fire/rescue dept. they came quickly and got him to the hospital. we have also called my parents town fire dept, which is only 2 blocks away when my grandma had to be taken to the hospital.

the think the abuse of 911 and ambulances is ridiculous.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

I am a 911 medical dispatcher and a paramedic........ yes, people call for stupid, stupid, stupid things and it is SO hard to be nice. You still there and listen to people calling you about the stupidist things and you listen to them taunt and ridicule(?) you. I have NEVER been treated so poorly by people as I do answering some 911 calls. Most nights you want to scream back but you can't. Every once and a while you have a call that breaks your heart. I had a grandmother call saying her 3month old grandaughter was not alive, and sure enough she wasn't. She had died in the night. You can't do anything except talk to them offer support and wait for rescue and the rig. She was ok talking, but everytime I tried to let her go she would start screaming NO!!!!!! I stayed on with her until rescue go there and then I had to let her go. I felt horrible because she was screaming to stay with her please don't leave me, but I had to. She got quite and said I must be an angle sent from GOD. I said I was sorry again for her and her family. I went to hang up and she said GOD bless you. I walked outside and cried for a few minutes came back in and took a 911 call for a bug bite that was 5 days old. It's not always easy but every once in awhile you feel like you helped someone.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

The morons that call 911 unnecessarily really put people in danger. In the 5 boroughs FDNY engines do respond to EMS calls, which puts them out of service for fire calls. One night they had a call for severe chest pain and upon arrival found a fully clothed, healthy and mind you made up woman looking for a ride to the hospital for a clinic appointment. DH told her sorry maam this is not a big red taxi, you need to call a yellow one

Message edited 11/3/2007 8:36:07 PM.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

I work in an ER too, and it is amazing how people abuse the system, you want to smack some of these people in the face. They do think it gets them seen faster once they are in the ER, but it really doesnt.

However, when my sister's friend had his wallet stolen from him at the mall, he didnt realize it until he got home. He called the precienct to see if he can file a report over the phone or something, and they told him he has to call 911 I have heard of this type of thing a few times where they ask you to call 911 to make out a police report. They all felt really bad calling because they didn't want to tie up the line, but they had no other option. So it seems from reading all these posts, they should come up with some other way to report nonemergencies so we can keep the emergency line free.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

I also want to share a phone # for anyone in Suffolk County- this is a new non emergency complaint number that was set up to handle quality of life issues- such as loud neighbors, vandalism etc...

The number is 852-COPS (852-2677).

This is great because I always felt bad calling 911 for noise complaints etc- but when I called the pct they said I had to go through 911 since that is how they are dispatched.

This new numbre solves that problem

Message edited 11/4/2007 11:51:02 AM.

Re: Spinoff on being put on hold calling 911

Posted by imagin916

I work in an ER too, and it is amazing how people abuse the system, you want to smack some of these people in the face. They do think it gets them seen faster once they are in the ER, but it really doesnt.

However, when my sister's friend had his wallet stolen from him at the mall, he didnt realize it until he got home. He called the precienct to see if he can file a report over the phone or something, and they told him he has to call 911 I have heard of this type of thing a few times where they ask you to call 911 to make out a police report. They all felt really bad calling because they didn't want to tie up the line, but they had no other option. So it seems from reading all these posts, they should come up with some other way to report nonemergencies so we can keep the emergency line free.