Re:a little story for you.

[Guest guest]

That's interesting. Thanks for the perspective.

I have to admit that if I ever have to call for help to get to the

hospital during an asthma attack, I'm more inclined to call a taxi

than an ambulance.

>

> Being a " supposedly trained firefighter " I have to respond...

>

> Not all firefighters are medically trained.? Therefore, not every

firefighter will know how to respond to medical emergencies.? You are

probably thinking then why are they showing up if they dont know???

The answer is because of a system in place that is supposed to

guarrantee some sort of response within a certain period of time.?

There are so many times when EMS will call the fire department so

they can say help arrived in so many minutes.? Unfortunately when a

fire dept gets that kind of call, knowing they may not have the EMS

trained people to do any good, they still are bound by the letter of

the law to respond regardless.

>

> Then again, its awful hard to intubate someone if they are not

lying on their back...and if as you say, this person was in and out

of respiratory distress, the possibility was very real that they were

going to prepare to intubate her or they may have been anticipating

the need to breathe for her with a bag valve mask, more commonly

known as an ambu bag.? You cant do that when someone is on their side

either.? I was an EMT for a few years and sometimes it is necessary

to have someone on their back when to the bystander it doesnt look

like we know what we are doing.

>

> No offense taken, but I just felt a need to maybe show a little

perspective from the inside..

> Ann

>