When in trouble,
when in doubt,
run in circles,
scream and shout.
We were discussing this little ditty just a few months ago in the context of the President’s on/off again tariffs on Canada.
Is it good advice? Not really, but then it’s not really advice, is it?
It’s a comment on what happens, not on what should happen.
Five weeks ago, I found my husband slumped over in his office chair gasping for breath. I thought that was bad until he stopped even gasping. On my part, what followed was not a textbook example of an effective emergency response, although I did manage to call 911 and today he is back in that office chair.
So. No harm, no foul? That’s it, that’s all? No. With some basic training or even with the barest smidgeon of scenario planning, maybe I could have done a little better. When seconds count, “maybe a little better” is a target worth pursuing. At the very least, I might not have panicked. Which got me to thinking: I’m unlikely to face this exact scenario in my home again, but it or something similar could happen elsewhere. I could be ready: ready for, and ready to.
I could be ready for a sudden collapse, and ready to call 911 immediately to get help the fastest way possible. That means knowing that their first question is not, “What has happened and to whom and where are you and how bad is it and did you want us to come right now or could we wait a while and, hey, why don’t you just tell us everything at once?” No, oddly, their first question is, “What is the nature of your emergency?”
I could be ready to offer useful information once I do get to the 911 person who will send medical first responders. That means thinking about what to observe and report: How old is the person? Is there blood? Are they conscious? Are they breathing? Do they have a pulse? How long have they been like this?
I could be ready to explain where I am. If I’m on a neighbourhood walking path, between what two streets? In a park, what’s its name and which area am I in? In a parking lot, which row or corner? In a mall, outside what store? On a highway, what number or name and near what exit or town?
It also means learning whether my cell phone is useful for calling 911 when I’m not in Ottawa or Ontario and, if not, what I have to do to overcome that problem.
I could be ready to undertake CPR or, in a public building, ready to deploy an AED properly. That means learning how to do both and, for buildings that I frequent, that also means learning where the AED is. Situational awareness has not heretofore been my strong point, but I could be less bad.
An individual’s sudden collapse isn’t the only scenario, of course. I could be ready for being on the scene of a bad car accident. A bad car accident with fire. A car/pedestrian collision. A kitchen fire. A broken limb. A missing kid. A wandering senior. A choking restaurant patron or dinner guest.
I could be ready to holler for help. That means thinking about how to communicate the need loudly and clearly and about what kind of help will be wanted. A medic of some sort? Someone big and strong? Both? A fire extinguisher? Something long to reach someone in the water? Other people to aid in a search?
And so on. I can’t spend my whole life focused on disasters, and at my age and skill level there are real limits to what I can do anyway. Maybe I can’t truly be ready, but a small investment in training, in planning, and in basic situational awareness would make me readier for, say, a handful of the most likely or most consequential events. And it would sure beat screaming.
Very good post. Glad The Big Guy is back in his Big Chair. 😀
Barbara – Many thanks. Me too.
Every new incident forces us to reconfigure our lives. For 60 years, Joan and I never prepared ourselves for not being a duo. Then she died, and I reorganized my life around flying solo. Then Christine came into my life, and once again we toss all the jigsaw pieces into the air to see how they come down this time. All we can do is be as ready as possible, while accepting that we can never be fully ready for something new.
I’m glad the Big Guy is back. Both of you, take care of yourselves.
Jim T – 🙂 Yeah, people plan, God laughs, or something like that.
I had the occasion recently to also call 911. (A garage accident involving Corvin, exploding paint can, fire and a resultant burnt hand) You are right to remind folks just HOW MANY questions 911 asks, and the need to have answers to give them. I actually am very calm in an emergency, but I was still surprised by all the questions! I already take note of locations of AED’s in buildings, and am trained in CPR, but you give some other very good suggestions of what to note. I’m glad Ivan is home and recovering, and let’s all spread the word of “what to expect when you call 911”
Alison – Oh, dear – so sorry. I hope all is now on the mend (garage and hand). I know that you’re a calm head – and I remember you telling me that it was in part due to a habit of thinking through “OMG scenarios” in slow-time. A good practice.
Prepared or not, you did well; Ivan got the care he needed and is now home and healing.
Tom
Tom – He for sure got the care he needed. For anyone who’s curious, I had a talk with a mall security guard today. Their AED is marked well, but of course it’s locked up. Every guard and every maintenance employee has a key. I suspect most malls would operate similarly.
When I discovered a fire in one of our children’s rooms in the middle of the night (yes, people, miracles do happen), I was surprised by the extent to which my dad’s teaching of us kids when we were barely school age came instantly to the surface and guided my decision-making. We were taught fire safety in school, too. In the days when more houses were not built from brick or other inflammable materials, house fires were more common and often tragic. Your warning to seniors is just as important. I shall give this subject more careful thought.
Laurna – I remember my then-husband coming home from safety training at work with tidbits like this: “If you wake up in the night and smell smoke, don’t sit up in the bed. Roll out onto the floor and crawl to stay under the potential layer of smoke.” Our smoke detectors might have made that tactic unnecessary by providing earlier warnings, but the point holds: Think about things before they happen and have a plan. You might not remember at the point of crisis, but you might.
Isabel – it all boils down to something I was taught as a young officer, “HAVE a plan for what you are going to do before the emergency happens and you need a plan.”
That was what I was taught as a young army officer. For most civilians it is more likely to be, “TRY and have a plan before ….”
The other thing I was taught was, “A bad plan is better than no plan.”
John – Yeah, I think the armed forces and police forces and some others address this problem properly, delivering training by default. Civilians have to seek it out. And yes, even a bad plan is better than none.
Glad Ivan’s back in his chair Isabel, sounds like that was a stressful experience. Colton & I recently took first aid training together and a couple of weekends ago when we walked into the Wetaskiwin curling rink to watch my nieces in a gymnastics competition, he said “there’s the AED mom” and I had a proud mom moment. AEDs locked up at the mall is dumb, but I suppose every policy has a reason — I’m sad to acknowledge that I probably know the reason. If only it wasn’t so.
Carla – Yes, it’s good to pay attention. 🙂 Good for Colton. As for the AEDs being locked up, I think they cost about $2K.