Are You Good In An Emergency?

Lee

Lee

Senior Member
Location
Chatham, Ontario
Are you the one to help, or are you helpless and go into a panic when it comes to an emergency?

One of my neighbors had someone come to visit and she fell yesterday and two guys went rushing over to help her up. Neighbor called me and I went rushing over.

First thing was to get rid of the guys as I could see the lady was embarrassed because she had peed herself in the fall.

My neighbor clearly falls into the panic category, doing nothing except wringing a wet washcloth. I took over, got sterilized wipes from my stash and proceeded to clean up. Noticed a good gash on her head and told the neighbor to call 911

Talking to 911 my friend kept telling them about the blood on her friends hands, I yelled at her to tell them about the hit to the head and the fact that the lady was a senior.

The paramedics arrived within minutes. In the meantime the woman kept insisting she did not want to go to the hospital and it was a challenge to reassure her that it might be necessary. I kept pressure on the head wound.

It may have been a blessing in disguise that this happened. She was taken in and a cat scan discovered calcification which could indicate that she had already had a small stroke. She was not on medication to prevent stroke other than baby aspirin.

How would you react in this situation? I used to get squeamish at the sight of blood but caring for grandma and hubby took care of that real quick.

Are you the panic mode type? Or do you have an emergency story yourself.
 

So far I've been pretty cool in emergency situations but I wouldn't want to be put to the test by the sort of thing the highway patrol has to deal with.

A few years ago I went sailing through the air onto the concrete floor of the garage, breaking my thigh bone, my shin bone and tearing all the ligaments that connected the two bones together. I called for my husband, but his hearing is not good so I just lay there for awhile until he got hungry and came looking for me. I told him I had broken my leg and wouldn't be able to get in his car because my knee was out of socket which was why my lower leg was sticking out sideways, so he would have to call an ambulance.

He left and came back a few minutes later asking me if I knew the number of the ambulance. I said "911." He came back and asked if I would like a pillow and I said, no, but he might want to back our cars out of the way so the ambulance could get close and he did that.

So we don't panic around here but we sort of go into a fugue like state, It was hours before anyone in the ER thought to give me something for pain and that was only after my husband told them I couldn't remember his name anymore. I was going into shock. So don't be too stoic you all!
 
Lee said:
Are you the one to help, or are you helpless and go into a panic when it comes to an emergency?

One of my neighbors had someone come to visit and she fell yesterday and two guys went rushing over to help her up. Neighbor called me and I went rushing over.

First thing was to get rid of the guys as I could see the lady was embarrassed because she had peed herself in the fall.

My neighbor clearly falls into the panic category, doing nothing except wringing a wet washcloth. I took over, got sterilized wipes from my stash and proceeded to clean up. Noticed a good gash on her head and told the neighbor to call 911

Talking to 911 my friend kept telling them about the blood on her friends hands, I yelled at her to tell them about the hit to the head and the fact that the lady was a senior.

The paramedics arrived within minutes. In the meantime the woman kept insisting she did not want to go to the hospital and it was a challenge to reassure her that it might be necessary. I kept pressure on the head wound.

It may have been a blessing in disguise that this happened. She was taken in and a cat scan discovered calcification which could indicate that she had already had a small stroke. She was not on medication to prevent stroke other than baby aspirin.

How would you react in this situation? I used to get squeamish at the sight of blood but caring for grandma and hubby took care of that real quick.

Are you the panic mode type? Or do you have an emergency story yourself.
Click to expand...
I have saved people and possessions from injury, damage and even death but I completely "lose it" if my flight is cancelled at the last minute or if some jerk walks out in front of me while I'm on my bike. But I'm "the arrogant guy" so what else can you expect?
 
I'm at a friends house helping him change out the engine in his truck, Ours teenage sons take off on 4 wheelers to ride.... His comes back screaming my son had wrecked.... We head out with him leading the way. Get there to find our rescue squad, trying to stop me from getting to him... (unsuccessfully) Saying that they have called for a helicopter, he flipped the 4wheeler and has a major head injury.
I walk up, he looks at me and says "sorry dad" ,(best words I ever heard). I ask him a few questions while checking out the injury's, ( crushed eye socket, bruised chest, and large scalp wound requiring 11 staples). I have the rescue squad call our local hospital so I can talk to the ER Doc. I give him my opinion, he agrees to accept him, they work him up, sew him up and he spends the night in the hospital... He required surgical repair for the eye socket 2 weeks later after the swelling went down....
Had this been anyone one else I would have sent them to a major medical center, possibly by helicopter. The Doc and Squad are folks I worked around for years, so they had trust in me calmly making this request for my own son.
Funny thing... he was 15 and turns 35 today.
 
Yes. I get a sense of calm and go into a hyperfocus state while dealing with the situation. Then fall apart and cry after it's all over.

It's a complete 180 from something scaring me like coming upon a snake or being in an intense lightening storm...those situations are panic unthrottled!
 
AnnieA said:
Yes. I get a sense of calm and go into a hyperfocus state while dealing with the situation. Then fall apart and cry after it's all over.

It's a complete 180 from something scaring me like coming upon a snake or being in an intense lightening storm...those situations are panic unthrottled!
Click to expand...
I hear you.....it's the afterwards that gets to you. I admit to feeling nauseous when looking at someone else's blood on my clothes.
 
I have never involved in a medical emergency that involved blood or broken bones, just my husband's strokes. I stay calm and focused but inside I am kind of freaking out. The last stroke, he was in bed, paralyzed on the right side of the body. He didn't want me to call 911, he wanted me to get him up.

I called 911, he went to a stroke certified hospital, and got some drug which docs use to reverse the effects of the stroke. Three days in ICU.

The dog came and got me with several of the strokes, including the one referenced above. He stayed on mission, very calm, even though he usually acts like a toddler.

The biggest emergency I was ever involved in, I stayed totally calm the whole time. My mind was buzzing with how to handle the various situations that came up. I was not physically attacked, thank goodness. I had to use my wits. Somehow I made the right decisions every time.
 
A girder fell onto a workmate, I was within feet of him and others who witnessed the incident called for an ambulance. I lifted the girder off him and went with him in the ambulance to the hospital and he asked me to inform his wife where he was.
I called at his home and after informing his wife of the accident I went to catch a bus to go home, it was there that I began really trembling and folks in the bus shelter kept asking me if I was alright. I was as cool as a cucumber up until that point.
 
I find that I am slow to react in a crisis. By that I mean that I stay calm until the crisis is over but I may get the shakes some 24 hours afterwards. As a teacher I often had to accompany injured girls in the ambulance on the way to the emergency ward and stay with them until a parent could be notified. My calm manner was helpful on those occasions.
 
@Lee your response was excellent, covered the bases i learned in Red Cross first aid course i had to take when driving for Laramie Senior Center in the late 1990s. You checked the scene, took charge and delegated, while taking action you still monitored what was being told to the 911 dispatcher. Really good!

Blood never bothered me. i often cleaned and treated minor injuries of my own when as young as 3 because my Mom would get so upset over them i had to wonder which of us was really hurt. (Actually have a clear memory of looking at a gash on my hand to confirm i was the one bleeding at a tender age.)

At 8 i pulled a 12 who'd panicked from the River where we were swimming. At 11 i took charge of smothering a small brush fire by fence of apt house i lived in (a 3 story 1 family dwelling that had been converted to one apt each floor), while two grown women panicked, tho one had the sense to follow my lead and shovel dirt on the fire and we got it out.


People are often shocked at my calmness after receiving very bad news about loved ones.
When my kids were young i could stay calm over most things and decide well about whether they needed to be seen by Doctor or ER and then i held it together at least until they had been assessed by professionals if someone was with me, or till i got home when i was a single Mom and dealing all on my own. Then i'd shake and cry once they were safe and i knew what to do to help them heal.
 
Those who've said 'life gets me in a panic, but i'm calm in emergencies.' Makes sense: Think about it--we can afford to be panicky, to moan, complain, agonize over non-emergency upsetting stuff--tho i found life easier when i learned ways to do that in relatively 'quick, concise just acknowledging my feelings so they don't bite me in the ass later' way. When it's a real emergency someone is at high risk we need to stay calm (it's a survival thing i think) to handle the situation well.
 
I don't remember being faced with any bloody injury emergencies, but in the little ones I've been faced with I have not shown any ability to cope. When I had a scary foster child (not little) who was out of control and had grabbed me I went into helpless giggling, which I guess is being 'hysterical'? At work with IT stuff if we have an urgent problem my brain just shuts down, I can only do good thinking when I'm calm and not stressed. My reaction with work stuff is if I'm asked a question I go blank and say I don't know, then after peoples' attention go onto someone else I can think and produce info.
 
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