When an ambulance's siren stops during rush-hour...

[that_punk_guy]

...that means the person inside has died, right?

I found a collapsed guy on the corner of the street on the way home tonight. I pulled my earphones out and asked him if he was alright, to which he opened his eyes and shook his head. He wrung his eyelids heavily under his spectacles and I could see the beads of sweat on his forhead. I asked what happened, and he managed to speak: "I don't know. I took some tablets... God I feel ill. I feel like I'm dying." I told him I was going next door to the pub for help and as I came back out with the barmaid (side-note: I hate that word) and at least one other lady, a couple in a car pulled up and the guy got out.

One of the ladies from the pub said he actually lived in the house he had collapsed outside and that they knew he was on medication. The guy from the car dialed 999 on his mobile phone and another stranger appeared, knealt down next to the guy and asked him how his breathing was and kept him talking. Oh yeah, first aid. I forgot that {bleep}. I realised my presence was surplus to requirements at that point and headed for home. A couple of minutes later I heard the ambulance siren sweep across the horizon and apparently come to a halt (although I thought it was customary to switch the siren off while the ambulance is stationary, it didn't pause but the volume and phase stopped shifting.) As I approached the hill to my house, the siren became more frantic for half a minute and then stopped altogether. I'd like to think they were out of the traffic, but "rush hour" lasts two or three here. My mum always used to say that when a moving ambulance's siren stops, the person inside has died.

 :-(

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Don't know...
here in the city, I often hear the siren being turned on and off while they drive through the city. Maybe on a clear road they rather have turned the siren off... Maybe turned out not being necessary at all, when they got a closer look in the ambulance and it seems not being critical.
One can only hope..

Fact is, you did a very good think to help the poor guy. Not everyone knows how to deal with such situations. And hardly anyone knows how to deal with such situations correctly.
And now you make a nice cuppa tea for yourself and so, call your sis to have a bit chitchat, and overall make yourself comfortable, it has been quite shock for you I guess.

[KennyR]

Not necessarily died, I think. I can think of three reasons they'd turn off the siren, all to do with the fact its not an emergency any more.

1) The patient is stabilised and out of any near danger;

2) The patient dies, and is beyond resuscitation;

3) The patient has recovered and it's found that there was nothing really wrong with him.

No. 3 could be the case if he had simply fainted; they'd take him to hospital anyway to get checked out. If he had "died", they'd have tried to resuscitate him, which can take up to 10 minutes or more, and I guess they'd only turn the siren off if they failed.

X-Ray should be able to offer better insights to this one.

[that_punk_guy]

Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
Fact is, you did a very good think to help the poor guy. Not everyone knows how to deal with such situations. And hardly anyone knows how to deal with such situations correctly.
And now you make a nice cuppa tea for yourself and so, call your sis to have a bit chitchat, and overall make yourself comfortable, it has been quite shock for you I guess.

Becky's never available these days. :-(

I don't know that I can really say I did the best I could have. I mean I had my mobile phone in my pocket the whole time, I could have called an ambulance from the guy's side instead of going to the pub? Maybe I thought someone there'd know first aid, I dunno.

It must have been so terrifying for him.

[odin]

I really should do a firstaid course again.....

[gizz72]

Greetings,

@Punky

I'm sure he's fine. You were able to talked to him. If it was a heart attack you won't be able to talked to him at all and remained unconscious. He'll be fine. I think he just felt dizzy. Cheer up, Punky. :-)
Knowing a little First Aid also helps too. :-)

Regards,

Gizz

[Speelgoedmannetje]

that_punk_guy wrote:
I don't know that I can really say I did the best I could have. I mean I had my mobile phone in my pocket the whole time, I could have called an ambulance from the guy's side instead of going to the pub? Maybe I thought someone there'd know first aid, I dunno.

At that moment, you tried to help him. So you did a good thing. I mean, you were shocked, so your mind was clouded. You couldn't help that. Some ppl run away from such. But Punkie didn't, Punkie tried to save this man and called for help. You did a very good thing, no less, and therefore you get my humble respect.

[marvin]

Or maybe the ambulance's siren is the dead one... :-D  

Outta here... :-D

[X-ray]

@ punkie

Don't worry too much about the siren. There are many reasons why they could have turned it off. Kenny mentioned the main ones, but there are two more:

1) There may be no place for the traffic to give way, so having the siren on may be counter-productive.
2) They might need it quiet for a bit, so they can hear something faint. I've been in there and it is quite loud with the siren on.

As for whether you could have done something: probably not. If the guy took some pills, you have to consider something:

1) He may have taken those pills to treat an existing condition which, if serious, may not be remedied on the pavement.
2) He may have taken pills that are not related to any condition. This could be mistaken medication or overdosage.

In both instances you have to know what the medication is before you can decide whether you're dealing with (1) or (2) above. And there isn't much you could do. It's different if someone chokes on a meatball at a restaurant and you can't do the Heimlich Manouevre, but your man is a difficult case for a by-stander. It needs a doctor. I don't think I could have made it better for him, because I don't know enough about medications.

Anyway, I tried to save a young woman of 26 in the hospital when there were no doctors around for the first few minutes. I started CPR, and when the doctors arrived they told me I was doing a good job and I should continue. I went for a good ten minutes but it was no use. She was gone. Internal bleeding post-operatively (she had a bad pelvic fracture). I think the guys already knew it because her tongue was white and she had no dolls-eye reflex, but something had to be seen to be done and it was good experience for me, from a technical point of view.

[CU_AMiGA]

Hello

There are a couple of ambulance men in Exeter who seem to spend most of there time "popping" into KFC, or taking away!

Regards,

[that_punk_guy]

What's sadder than that? That there are people who spend eight hours a day in KFC! :-(

@X-ray

Thank you. As always, very interesting. :-)

@Eyso

Thank you too.  :oops:

[Speelgoedmannetje]

You're welcome, Chris

[X-ray]

Anytime

[CU_AMiGA]

@punky

Yeah. You definately did the right thing. I wouldn't knock yourself. You did everything you could. It is a quite startling situation to be in, at least you didn't do anything cowardly and ran off or something. I think sumner7 (and someone else not on these boards) have been in a similar situation. I think they found a homeless personal calapsed on the street, they rang the ambulance via mobile. Obviously the guy had either been drinking far too much or completely drugged, or both. :nervous:

Regards,