Tips for Emergencies

In my role as the most initial responder for emergency calls, I have accumulated tips of many varieties for the person to be aware of when preparing for or, unfortunately, experiencing an emergency. Take note, if you’d like.

Preventing an Emergency

I believe they say “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and I am inclined to believe them. Many emergencies can be prevented or lessened in severity by taking small, simple actions regularly; usually, these actions will, over your entire life, still occupy less time than dealing with even one (1) instance of experiencing the related emergency.

• Lock your car. This is the easiest example. If you lock your car every time, you will spend 0-4 extra seconds doing work every time you park, which, of course, is time you will never get back. However, this may prevent an opportunistic thief from taking your belongings or your entire vehicle. And that will easily take many hours to handle. Every time it happens. Your preventive measures will never, regardless of the amount you drive, equal the amount of time it takes to deal with the related emergency once, let alone multiple times. Can your car still get broken into/stolen? Of course. But why make it easy?
• Don’t leave your key fob in the car. This should be common sense but I hear it all the time. Leaving your key fob in the car is literally giving the thieves everything they need to steal your belongings, which may be few or many depending on what you do with your car, and, of course, your entire vehicle. You’re ensuring that, should they even barely attempt these criminal acts, they are guaranteed to be successful. It is among the most unwise decisions one can make.
• Don’t keep arguing if a situation is escalating. When a argument gets so bad that you need emergency help, you are far beyond the point where you should have stopped arguing. I’m not sure if anybody has told you this, but you absolutely can end an argument cold turkey. You can turn around and walk away, or walk into another room and lock the door. Plus, if you have to make an emergency call, you will need to speak with the dispatcher anyway, not with the person with whom you are arguing. Once it escalates that much, continuing the argument will almost never diffuse the situation. Stop while you’re ahead, even if you’re not ahead.
• Actively oppose dangerous activities. When you notice somebody doing something dangerous, acting in a dangerous manner, or approaching a dangerous situation, you must actively (not passively) oppose it. This could look like telling them that their behavior is unacceptable, reporting the action or environment to an authority (which may or may not be a government entity), or shouting for somebody to watch out before an unfortunate circumstance befalls them. Permitting a dangerous situation to persist or escalate usually does not make you responsible for the outcomes, but preventing it can have an immediate, positive, and measurable effect.

Handling an Emergency

• Remain physically separated. In the presence of anything physically threatening, the best way to remain safe is to not be in the same place as it. That could mean a different room, a different building, a different car, or even just on the other side of the cubicle wall. Walk (or run) away, and stay away until the situation is no longer volatile.
• Know, initiate, and encourage first aid. Catastrophic wounds and acute illness can be very bad, and knowing how to downgrade them from life-threatening conditions to serious conditions (such as with gauze, the Heimlich maneuver, or an AED) can easily make the difference between life and death. This could be used to save you, the people around you, or a stranger you will never see again.
• Move to a safer place, even in unsafe places. In some situations, the emergency may bring with it a wide footprint and/or few options for mobility. That said, you must prioritize reducing the amount of further harm, even when you cannot remove the risk altogether. This could mean crawling from a hallway into a room that locks, moving your car from a highway shoulder to a highway off-ramp, or running from a city plaza into a nearby business. The destination may not be safe, but it should be safer.
• Use your bystanders. If you are not the only person present during an emergency, other people might be able to help you, but you must engage them to do so. This is best executed by looking directly at, pointing, and identifying a specific person that you want to do a specific thing, and emphasizing that it must be done without delay. Many people working towards the solution is often a stronger force than a single, determined person. Examples of how to engage a bystander are as follows:
  • “Dave, go ask the front desk where the AED is right now, and bring it to me.”
  • “Brenda, I’m going to give this guy his EpiPen, so I need you to call for emergency help right now.”
  • “You in the green tie, go get me the first aid kit behind the security desk, and hurry.”
  • “James, stand up and lock the door quickly.”

Calling for Help

• Listen more than you speak. The dispatcher you’re speaking with knows exactly the information they need to get to keep the greatest number of people safe. You should spend most of the call allowing the dispatcher to tell you what they need from you.
• Do not word vomit. Describe what is happening now and causing an emergency now. Do not recount all the events leading up to this, because the dispatcher is not writing your police report or filling out a patient chart. Those jobs belong to someone else, to whom you absolutely should give details. Answer questions briefly, without expository information. If the dispatcher needs to know something, they will ask you for it.
• Mention the most serious parts first. The most important factors in any type of emergency are the safety of the scene, then of the people involved. If you know of any serious scene threats, mention those first until you’re sure the dispatcher heard you. Do not ever wait until 2 minutes into the call to say that somebody has a gun, for example. If somebody has a life-threating injury or medical condition, it must be your priority to make the dispatcher aware. If somebody is not breathing, or has blood launching out of their leg, for example, lead with that.
• Direct questions should beget direct answers. Do not overcomplicate yes/no questions with a page of medical history or relationship drama. See below for examples of good and bad answers to a few sample questions.

Dispatcher’s Question	Good Answers	Bad Answers
“Is she right there with you?”	“She’s looking at me right now.” “She’s in the next room.” “No, she’s gone home.”	“Yeah, she was until she drove to the corner store.” “She’s here in my mind and I can feel her spirit.” “With me? No, we just broke up; it was awful.”
“Do you have asthma or other lung problems?”	“Yes.” / “No.” “I have asthma.” “I have emphysema.”	“I don’t have asthma.” “I have ovarian cancer.” “Not yet…”
“What color is the vehicle?”	“Green.” “Some kind of dark color, it’s too dark outside to see well.” “Red or maroon or… burgundy maybe.”	“I don’t know, but it looks suspicious.” “I don’t think it’s painted.” “Same color as my mom’s car.”

• Interrupt if a new safety issue arises. If there is a serious safety change, let the dispatcher know immediately, even if you have to interrupt. Do not interrupt if a known safety or health hazard is simply persisting. A good reason to interrupt is to say “he just pulled out a knife” or “I don’t think she’s breathing anymore.” Do not interrupt to say “oh my god, she’s still not breathing” or “he has a gun, he has a gun, what do I do” if these states were already known. Once the dispatcher is aware, you should let them deliver the proper instructions, which they cannot do if you’re talking.
• Keep a level head. The dispatchers know that if you are calling for emergency help, you may be experiencing the single worst day of your entire life. It makes sense to be emotional, to have strong feelings, to cry, or to get angry (at someone, at everyone, or at yourself). However, the more collected you can remain during the call, the easier it is for the dispatcher to give you instructions that can make a difference, and for you to then execute those instructions. Finding a relative unresponsive and not breathing will be a traumatizing discovery, and this is expected; but, if you can maintain your cool enough to hear, understand, and execute CPR, then your loved one might not die today, which is obviously among the best outcomes.

General Emergency Axioms