IF you needed to call an Ambulance would you know what to do?

Whilst this is Julie’s blog the purpose of it is to help others on this journey, currently Julie has been explaining the background to  the initial events. Part of what we want to do is help guide those on a similar journey and bring up subjects that you may or may not encounter and how we dealt with them. I hope this guidance helps.

For example:

My last piece said don’t ignore even simple symptoms or one off events, to that I’d add these pearls of wisdom as the partner of someone having lets call them at this stage ‘problems’.

a)      Stay calm at all times – you need a clear head and panicking or mithering as we say up north will only add to your loved one’s distress. Even at times like this Julie is more concerned about others than herself, I suspect your other half would be the same.

b)     If you need to call the emergency services (We’re getting a lot of overseas readers – thank you, fyi 999 is the emergency call number in the UK) dial 999 stay calm and ask for the Ambulance Service – remember the operator at this point is handling calls for the Police & Fire Services too so all you need say at this point is ‘Ambulance Please’ – don’t go beyond that this person cannot help and yelling at them certainly won’t. They’ll transfer you to the Ambulance Service immediately.

a.      At this point stay calm and be polite and precise – do not shout. An example of how the call should go is: “my name is Andy Shute, my wife Julie has just suffered a seizure/suspected stroke following discharge from hospital yesterday”

b.      You’ll then get a series of questions asked of you,  the first probably what is your address?– Your concern will be we need an ambulance not questions! Be aware the operator will at this stage (without speaking) have already arranged an emergency ambulance or paramedic despatch, they’ll be on the way.  So stay calm and answer the questions these are essential and the operator will be relaying this info to the paramedics and ambulance crew live.. Some questions may get asked twice, again just go with it, arguing with the operator that “I’ve already told you that” is not helpful, best they are accurate and you give them the info as soon as possible.

c.       In emergency situations the operator will often stay on the line with you until the ambulance/paramedics arrive, this is twofold 1) It helps reassure you and 2) it enables them to advise you should your partner’s situation change/deterioriate – again they’ll relay that to the team on route.

c)      It’s probably helpful (but not essential) if you are calling from a phone with a hands free/Speaker facility – that way you and your partner can both be assured by the conversation and if you need two hands they’re both free.

d)     Make sure you or anyone else there opens your exterior doors, you really don’t want the paramedics ringing the door bell and waiting for you to struggle downstairs to open the door – remember every second can count here. Make sure passage ways are clear if they need to use a stretcher or wheel chair, make life easier for them.

e)      Once in the house and with your partner. Briefly explain the symptom(s) and background but stand back from your partner, these guys have equipment with them and need space to get to your other half. You’ll want to help but right now the paramedic is all your partner needs.  Be on hand to answer questions but I’d say at this point unless spoken to keep quiet, they need to concentrate. If they speak to you, you might want to ask “Is there anything I can do” but besides this the best help you can give is to stay calm, keep out of the way and speak only when spoken to.

f)       You may or may not decide to go to the hospital in the ambulance, in our instance I chose not to for a) I needed my car to get home and b) it gave me chance to get a small case ready for Julie knowing she would probably be admitted. IF YOU follow the ambulance to the hospital in your own vehicle under no circumstances ‘follow them’  by that I mean they will be exceeding the speed limit, jumping red lights all of which they are trained to do and are legally entitled to do, you on the other hand are NOT! You need to get to the hospital in one piece, consider others on the roads not just yourself, keep your concentration. You’ll find the difference in arrival times is minimal and your partner may not have hit A&E even by the time you get there.

g)      Once at the hospital go to A&E reception and explain your reason for being there, they’ll get you to your partner  straight away – Again be polite, I’ve seen hospital staff being verbally abused for doing their job, it is not fun, nor is it ‘big or clever’ staying calm is the key to all of this.

h)     As with when the paramedics arrived at your house – remain calm and stay out of the way and speak when spoken to. You in a distressed state is not going to help anyone.

i)        We keep a note book almost like a diary of events, often it is easier to hand something like this to the A&E Doctor to give him an idea of what happened and when (especially with multiple recent admittances), they’ll seek clarification from you both.

I did clash with an A&E Doctor during Julie’s second admittance (In Lancaster Royal Infirmary) The circumstances were this.

During Julie’s very first admittance the A&E team conducted tests on Julie, one was asking her to touch certain parts of her body with her eyes closed (Nose for example) also to outstretch her arms and keep them straight, it fast became apparent that there was weakness in Julie’s left arm for it dropped lower (limb weakness is a recognised symptom of a stroke). In the second A&E The doctor conducted the same test with Julie’s eyes wide open.. Julie is both dogged and determined and I knew she would see this as a challenge not an aid and would fight to keep her left arm straight, she did hahaha.. I said to the Doctor “During Julie’s previous admittance when doing this test with her eyes closed her left arm dropped”, he snapped at me to the effect of “I think you’ll find I am the Doctor around here”… I just responded “Fine” and shut up and stood away from the bed. He did though do the eyes closed test and sure enough the arm dropped.. About an hour later the Doctor apologised to me saying he’d been on call and in A&E most of the previous 48 hours, and added that he should not have responded like that to me. I understood why he had, I don’t regret highlighting the test or this subject, but equally I knew it was not going to help Julie if I started a war of words with the guy right then. The UK NHS system whilst excellent is so because of committed teams who work long hours for often little reward. Bear with them if they get snappy with you and above all follow their requests. 

 

Andy..