Car or Ambulance to take someone to the Hospital? I intend to use this thread to get opinions and experiences of members regarding their usage of ambulances, personal cars to move a family member in an emergency to the hospital.
I understand that this depends upon a lot of factors like distance from home to hospital, time of the day, traffic density on route etc. But then I also understand that the Ambulance will have to find your home, many times in lanes which are nondescript, etc and then move the patient.
Also, it depends upon the ailment and emergency.
Now, the reason I am posting this is twice in the last two years (1st April 2010, 25th May 2012) I have had to move my father to a hospital (I am posting this as I sit in the hospital room with him) due to an emergency.
The first time (1st April 10) I was just leaving from office (3:00 a.m. ) when my sister called saying dad has pain in the chest. I was on a bike which I rode very fast and reached home. Looking at him, I could understand he is suffering an attack.
I quickly put a tablet of "sorbitrate" under his tongue and carried him to the car, in 12 minutes I was at the Ruby hall emergency entrance and he was saved. The total time it took me from my sister calling till reaching hospital was approximately 25-30 minutes.
Now why did I do this?
1 - when sister called was not sure of what is the exact issue.
2 - it happened at a time when there is almost no traffic on roads so was sure could do the distance quickly rather than waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
If my sister would have diagnosed would I have called emergency services, probably Yes. I stay in a society which is pretty well known in the Viman Nagar area (Konark Campus) and it would not have been difficult to find.
The second incident happened two days ago. I was attending classes (weekend). Around 7:15 p.m. (1915hrs) mom called me saying dad is sweating and not responding. Neighbour had come home and said he is sweating. (WRONG). I quickly reached home (7:40 or so). When I checked his pulse it was very low (45-55). I bodily lifted him up and with a neighbour holding him I put him in the car and drove like a maniac to reach hospital which took 15-16 minutes. On the way, I called the hospital emergency number and told them to be ready to receive the patient, also told symptoms. On their part, I have to commend Jehangir staff as when I reached the gate they had cleared the entire route till the emergency door and there 6 people (4 wardboys, 2 doctors) were waiting with 2 stretchers. We moved him quickly to the emergency room and he is Now FINE!. (Touch wood).
Now, the distance I travelled in both cases was almost same (Ruby hall and Jehangir are almost opposite each other on the same road). It took me 4-5 minutes more to reach hospital in the second case due to traffic (and 2 signals). I even got a nice scratch on the car when I scraped a footpath outcropping. However, most people were helpful and when I shouted that there is an emergency patient, they even blocked traffic to allow me passage.
Now, both these scenarios make me think, did I do the right thing? Should I have called an ambulance? What will I do differently if I am faced with the same thing?
I want this to help everyone in decision making under such scenarios, as I know the brain literally shuts down. It is better to be prepared.
One more point - Please remember to have atleast a strip of "Sorbitrate" tablets handy. These are lifesavers esp. when someone is having an attack.
Last edited by torquecurve : 27th March 2012 at 12:34.
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