Person Down!

When you call 911, the call is put into a category depending on what you tell the dispatcher over the phone.  This is a  nationally used protocol, created to bring a uniform standard to 911 dispatching.  If the protocol is being used by the center you call, you will get questions asked to you in a way that will best extract the most pertinent information in a timely manner.  That way, the proper services and amount of rescuers are sent to your emergency call.

This is because, unless a dispatcher can actually see what is going on and why you are calling, he is blind and at your mercy to relay what is really going on.

911 calls are made all the time for any reason. But for this post, I will focus on a "Person down." This is different from a "Fall," which is when the caller states the patient was actually seen, heard or told of falling down. A "Person down" is just that, someone on the ground for no reason, or no witnessed reason. 

Most of the time in the area where I work, it is for a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, or a drunk person that has passed out and/or is sleeping too.

Oddly, when someone has a seizure, heart attack, or drug overdose,they are usually with someone and/or it is witnessed, and the 911 call comes in as something other than "Person down." Even a suicide or someone who had died on the street comes out as a "DOA." A "Person down" seems to be always someone who is sleeping or drunk.

Many times, it ends up being a false alarm. The caller is sometimes driving in their car and sees someone on the sidewalk and decides to call. A man was kneeling down on his front lawn doing some gardening, and a driver mistook him as being unconscious and on the ground. Silly good Samaritan...... Other times it's someone who is walking by, or lives/works nearby and sees something "wrong." I came on scene to find a man laying on the sidewalk, with the 911 caller standing right next to him. I asked, "What's wrong?" The caller said, "I think he's dead." I looked down at the man, and shouted, "Hello! Are you okay?" The man on the sidewalk said, "Leave me alone, I'm sleeping."

Yes, many times, good Samaritans just call 911 without trying to investigate why they are calling. I guess there's a point where they care, but not that much. Like the many drivers who call 911, but won't circle the block to find out if they are calling for a legitimate reason, and just keep driving on their merry way.

So far,  knock on wood, my "Person Downs" have not had any emergency needing special attention. Most are people who are trying to sleep. Some are too drunk to be left on their own, and are carted off to the hospital. Some are homeless and feign illness because they know it means a warm bed and something to eat, even though it will take up a bed in the Emergency room.

Today's call was different. "Person down, behind the library." We respond lights and sirens through heavy traffic, and finally get to our destination and head for the back of the library. We didn't find anyone. We looked all over, then walked down some steps to an alley. We looked around, nothing..... Then someone pointed to a place that was behind us, and said "He's up there." We looked up a different flight of stairs and saw a bundled blanket in the library's back doorway.

We asked the pointer, "Did you call 911?" He answered, "Yes, I called." We asked, "What happened, why did you call?" The pointer answered, "No movement." By then we were getting nearer to the person who hasn't moved for I don't know how long, but long enough for the caller to be worried. As we got closer, I thought, "We passed this alley to get to the back of the library, why didn't the 911 caller flag us down and tell us to go down this alley instead?" We would have gotten to the patient a little bit sooner, and it would have been much easier to get this person in distress into the ambulance to be quickly whisked away to the hospital.

Were we too late? Could this person who hasn't moved be saved? We wondered as we got closer..... we shouted "Are you okay? Are you okay? No movement........ none at all. We got closer...... We shook the blanket. No movement. We slowly uncovered the blanket....... and found.........
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No one. There was no one under the blanket. Surprised? *rolls eyes*