First: don’t lie. How and when to call an ambulance to a patient with COVID-19?

Contents

Not everyone can stay cool
112 is not the same as 999
What to tell the dispatcher? Step by step
First of all – don’t lie
Life writes different scenarios
Queues at SOR

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People with COVID-19 and their loved ones are so stressed out that they act erratically and call an ambulance on their first reflex. Callers add symptoms to themselves, exaggerate them. – What to say to the dispatcher? Answer the dispatcher’s questions and not lie, says a paramedic, who has survived the coronavirus himself.

It is invariably easiest for people to call 112 immediately and demand the arrival of an ambulance home – lifeguards complain
In the public mind, the number 112 has been equated with the number 999, which should be called to call the emergency medical team. This is a mistake
Prior to the pandemic, nearly 70 percent of ambulance departures did not qualify for imminent life-threatening conditions. Today, people think that COVID-19-like symptoms entitle them to dial 112
What information should I collect before making a call? First, provide the address, and another key piece of information is that the situation concerns a patient with COVID-19
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People who have had the misfortune of catching COVID-19 report similarly: the first reaction is panic, overwhelming terror, and fear of the unknown.

Because no one who tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus knows what the course of “his” coronavirus will be.

Will it end up with a fever, cough, loss of smell? Or maybe the dyspnea will be so great that an anaesthesiologist’s intervention will be needed? Connection to a ventilator? So the hospital. But which one? How to get there? Who to ask what to do next? Where to call?

It is no wonder then that people seeking help are often so stressed that they act in chaotic hysteria and call an ambulance on the first impulse.

After all, they learn every day about the deaths of those whom the doctors failed to save. And there is still no cure for the deadly plague.

Not everyone can stay cool

Just like Piotr Dymon, who contracted the coronavirus. But the man is a long-term paramedic, knows the procedures very well and knows the sequence of proceedings.

He claims that the awareness of Poles on this issue is insufficient.

– The topic of when to call an ambulance is constantly rolled around on social media, in the press and on television, and sometimes we get the impression that it’s all like peas against the wall, to no effect. And it is always easiest for people to call 112 immediately and ask for an ambulance to come home. However, they should contact their GP and seek teleportation first, says the rescuer.

He explains that already before the pandemic, almost 70 percent of ambulance departures did not qualify for imminent life-threatening conditions.

“But now people are getting more and more desperate, and if they notice coronavirus-like symptoms or test positive, they think that’s reason enough to dial 112. It’s a mistake,” he emphasizes.

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112 is not the same as 999

Why? First, because 112 is reserved for emergency situations that require intervention.

This emergency number is used, for example, in the event of road accidents, fire, theft, burglary, robbery, violence, or any other emergency in the event of a sudden threat to life, health, environment, property, safety or public order.

– Unfortunately, in the public mind, the number 112 has been equated with the number 999, which should be called to call the emergency medical team. Please remember that 112 is a headquarters where operators work, not medical dispatchers. The latter accept the notification and, based on the interview, decide where to switch the conversation to: to the ambulance, police, fire brigade, water rescue unit or other specific institution. Therefore, in the event of a threat to health and life, it is better to call 999 – explains Mr. Piotr and regrets that there is no social campaign on this subject.

What to tell the dispatcher? Step by step

So what – after dialing 999 – justifies calling an ambulance by a patient with COVID-19 or his relatives?

– Very high fever, sometimes with chills, shortness of breath that prevents breathing, sharp pain in the chest, loss of consciousness, and disturbed consciousness, says Smym.

What information should I collect before making a call? First, give the address and say what you are calling about.

– The easiest way to describe it is one sentence: answer the dispatcher’s questions and not lie. The key information is that the situation concerns a patient with COVID-19. I know people are generally very upset, but don’t panic. It is important to calmly describe the situation, give the patient’s age, symptoms and their severity. It’s also good to say how long these symptoms last and when they first appeared – explains the paramedic.

And if the patient loses breath during the conversation or shows other disturbing symptoms, it is also necessary to inform about it immediately.

– The dispatcher will explain in detail what to do until the arrival of paramedics – adds Dymon.

«Grandma was dying in agony. The ambulance did not want to come. Total anesthesia »

First of all – don’t lie

However, the problem is also that the callers often add symptoms to themselves in a conversation with the dispatcher, they exaggerate them. All this to be sure that the ambulance will come to them due to the difficult access to the primary care physician.

– I have contracted COVID-19 myself, and I know my symptoms do not increase rapidly as during an asthma attack or other emergency. Coronavirus does not develop in an hour or two, most often it takes several days. At the first symptoms, it is necessary to try to contact a general practitioner, describe the symptoms in detail. It is the doctor who, based on the interview, should decide whether to treat the patient at home or to call an ambulance. Of course, it would be best if the doctor was on the spot at that time – explains the paramedic.

Life writes different scenarios

For example, GPs may not always be familiar with the procedures.

Ms Klaudia from a small town in western Poland says that her entire family contracted the coronavirus, most likely brought from school by her children.

Everyone, except Mrs Klaudia’s dad, had the infection asymptomatically. And the man felt worse and worse, was coughing, fever, and had trouble breathing.

– I tried to contact my GP. The registrar was not able to tell me when teleportation would be possible for a person with a positive COVID-19 test. It was only when I firmly demanded to speak to me that she agreed to listen to me. I described my dad’s symptoms because he wasn’t able to talk himself. Unfortunately, the doctor did not know what to do next. I called 999 myself, explained the situation. The rescuers came and took my dad to the hospital – says the woman.

Queues at SOR

Another thing is, sometimes this ambulance won’t come right away.

From the account of Tomasz Wyciszkiewicz, a paramedic who posted a dramatic entry on his social media, another picture of Polish medical reality emerges.

The lifeguard writes: “Health care, called by politicians the health service, no longer exists in Poland!” – writes. And he tells how the ambulance went to the patient 15 hours after the call.

«We are sorry that we will not help you, that you will be dying at home, because most of the clinics have turned to you and will ask you to call an ambulance to your sick child or they will make a teleporter prescribing an antibiotic and we … will not come. Because we are waiting at SOR 3,4,5 or 14 hours! Yes, you hear it right! 14 hours trying to refer the patient to the HED! It is happening in Poland! Right next to you, but TV won’t show you! It says there are enough beds! Seriously? Where? In hotels? Because not in hospitals! ».