When You Have to Call 911 for a Family Member

Post Reply New Topic

It is at night and you are on your computer. Your father is sick and says he has problems breathing and tells you to call 911. Would you be able to do so calmly and explain to the operator what is wrong without having a meltdown or "Deer In The Car Headlights" Syndrome?

Well, I've called 911, but it was a different situation. I did okay, but I could have done better. It involved my father-in-law, and a good friend. And murder.

I actually do okay under pressure.

No problems here.

Interestingly enough, it's not uncommon for "nonverbal" autistic children to utter their first lucid words during emergency phone calls and situations.

thats a situation i hope i will never be in. i am sure i would do ok though.

When I was thirteen, my Mum had a terrible accident in the house. I did ring my Dad but it didn't occur to me to phone for an ambulance.
Thankfully she was ok.

As an adult, I have dialled 999 (the UK number for emergency services).

I was in that situation once. It went very badly. I was the only person at home with my mother when she suffered a severe heart attack. I was in the next room, but I didn't actually notice that she had collapsed until after she'd already been without oxygen for too long. When I did find her, I was at first confused about why she was just lying there instead of getting ready for work, and then when I realized that something was very wrong, I had the deer in the headlights kind of reaction. I only snapped out of it when my dad called on the phone, whereupon I completely failed to find the right words to explain what was going on, and was too vague for him to adequately grasp the urgency of the situation. He did, however, arrive home a few minutes later, freaked out, and told me to call 911. It never occurred to me that I should call 911 until that point. The point when it was already far, far too late. She never woke up.

I'm often the calm one. I coached mum thru a heart attack, thankfully mild. She didn't want to go to hospital because she had no insurance, but I had the phone. Luckily, she was ok, and as soon as she got her insurance back, she talked to the docs about what happened.

I so was going to call too. And I had the keys if she insisted that no ambulance comes. She's more stubborn than me I swear...

I am sorry TheRani.

My whole family were there when my fell down the stairs and whilst I wasn't the one to call 999 my obsession at the time was Brownies (as in Brownie Guides) and I treated my mum for shock and got my dad to call the ambulance, I was the calmest in the house, I didn't really feel anything.

I've called 111 (NZ emergency services number) before for someone but not for a family member. My mother accidently ran over the neighbours kid (aged 16 months) when she was reversing out of her cap-port (he was short and behind the car and she didn't see him).
I saw what happened. My mothers ex-boyfriend (her boyfriend at the time) had to pull him out from under the car as he was stuck. Thankfully he wasn't severely injured and only had a few cuts and a bruised pancreas. The mother of the child was crying...my mother was in shock, everyone was argueing and panicing. I was the only one who managed to stay calm and call for an ambulance and give a clear details about what the situation was and what help we needed.

I have been in another situation where I needed to give CPR to a stranger before....thank goodness that I took a first aid course!

I had to call 999 once, when my mum suffered a severe allergic reaction to fumes from some cleaning fluids. She couldn't breathe and she was really scared, but somehow I was able to call 999 and remain completely calm as I explained the situation and stayed on the line. Later on, at about 4am, I was able to order a taxi to get her home from the hospital after she'd recovered.

Strangely enough, I cope much better in situations like that than I do with everyday life.

Or perhaps it's not so strange... maybe it's just instinct taking over so that I don't divert the resources to panic/worry as I normally would.

you would be amazed what you can do if your pushed far enough

Adrenaline can cause humans to have great feats. That may be the case here.