Last year I called 911 when my husband went into anaphylactic shock and passed out. His blood pressure was around 70/30 when the medics got there. Turns out he’s suddenly allergic to wheat in his 40’s. Ate it all his life, no problem. Learned you can become allergic to anything any time in life. Anyway he recovered and now has epi pens and a drastic change in diet. I’m so very thankful I was home because it was too severe for him to have helped himself from the floor to the phone.
The point: I learned that when you call 911 in my county for a medical emergency, you have to tell the dispatcher you need “a unit with life saving capabilities”. Why they don’t all come ready for that, I don’t understand. Cost I guess. But if all he needed was a ride, I could have done that myself. In our case, they had to call for a cardiac unit with epinephrine and a heart monitor machine after the first unit arrived and took his blood pressure. You would think “he’s having an allergic reaction, severe hives and passed out 3 times in the last couple minutes” would have resulted in a life saving unit, but they told me no, you have to specify that. I don’t know how they expect the general public to know that.
That’s nuts. I had a friend in college go into anaphylactic shock (strangely she was never able to determine why) and when I called 911 a fully prepared ambulance arrived.
Advanced Life Support is all we have too- out in the toolies, but they’ll call in a helicopter if you need transport to the big specialty hospitals. Our problem is more the ambulance getting lost on the way…
It WAS an ambulance and fire truck who first arrived.
I’m in a northern suburb of Houston. Hardly the boonies. About 10 mins from 3 big hospitals.
I hope I didn’t sound ungrateful. The first unit was very helpful. I just can’t understand why a couple epi pens wouldn’t be standard on every unit. It’s not like they take up space.
Where I run, ambulances are either ALS (Advanced Life Support {paramedic}) or BLS (Basic Life Support {EMTs}). The dispatcher (not the 911 call taker) will look at the type of call, the closest available unit & their level (ALS/BLS) & determine whether to dispatch just them or also add a medic assist.
The next county over runs only BLS trucks, with the medics in separate vehicles; for a BLS call, you get an ambulance, for an ALS call, you get both an ambulance & a medic responder.
The fact that you, a member of the general public, should know some magic code words, especially when under the stress of an emergency where you perceive you loved one to be in grave danger is horseshit. The job of the 911 call taker is to get information about what is going on; the dispatcher should act on what they are being given.
As for epi-pens, when I started as an EMT, I could *assist *you with injecting it, but if you were passed out, with it lying by your side when I arrived, I couldn’t touch it. :smack:
PurpleClogs I’m glad it all worked out. Thank all the gods that you were there, anaphylactic shock is no joking matter.
From my understanding, EMT’s are well trained in advanced first aid, but aren’t certified to diagnose or give injections.
As someone who carries an Epi-pen, I might be able to answer that question. The dosages are pre-calibrated and the wrong dosage could do more harm than good.
Let me clarify that, as someone who has also carried an epi-pen.
Among the possible side effects listed for not just mis-use but also proper use: heart attack, stroke, death. Somewhat rare, fortunately, but there’s a reason you’re supposed to be careful about using them.
His allergist told us if he ever has to use it, to go to the ER and just sit in the waiting room for a few hours to be right there if he needs anything further. So the epi pen might not be enough for some people.
They only last about 15 minutes, and sometimes a person needs more than one.
The ER will want to monitor for the really nasty side effects and probably put the person on something that’s a little more long-acting until the offending substance has been worked entirely out of the body.
The protocol I’ve gotten in the ER for food allergy is usually 1 dose of epinephrine, equivalent to an epi-pen, 50 mg diphenhydramine, and between 60-120 mg of solumedrol (sort of a prednisone variant).
As Spiderman surmised above, it is a matter of local protocols.
The 9-1-1 Emergency Response system suffers from a maddening problem. It is like a fast food chain with a well known brand name but little consistency in what’s on the menu. It would be like finding out that McDonald’s in another state sells fish tacos and not hamburgers.
I work in a 9-1-1 centre and we certainly do not expect the public to know any magic words. But we are entirely dependent upon what you, the caller, tell us. Like about 15% of the 9-1-1 call centres in the United States, our centre has no ability to locate where a cell phone call is originating.
In my neck of the woods, when we call 911 for a medical problem, we always get a team sent out by the Fire Department. Maybe not the same team every time, but always certified and equipped the same.