Calling for a ambulance

medicnick83

medicnick83

Paramedic
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
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Location
CBD, Cape Town
Hi all,

Okay, so I have an issue which I'm going to tell you all about.

Today, on Twitter, I saw this "sponsored" Tweet.

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And it irritated me.
Why you wonder?
Well, last I heard, ADT was a security company, I've never heard of anything medical coming out of ADT.
Now, they are expecting people to join them (FREE 2 months!) and then they provide medical assistance too - which means that they will probably call an ambulance for YOU and herein is the issue!

My issue here is, people should be taught / know / instructed to call a preferred ambulance service FIRST if it's a medical emergency, especially a LIFE THREATENING medical emergency because it's faster that all necessary details come from YOU first.

I'll give you a good example of what is happening here in Cape Town and it pisses me off!

The City of Cape Town has a special number that it likes to advertise - sure you've seen it at some point, especially if you live in Cape Town.

107leaflet.jpg

Now let's take a situation;

You having a heart attack and your family (whatever family member) calls either of the above numbers (many times, people call SAPS - can you believe it!) - they in a panic (understandable), they blabber away to that call taker.
They hangup.

What happens now?

That call taker calls an ambulance service (Be it private or government) and gives them the information and then the ambulance service in question dispatches an ambulance.
I'm sure ADT would do the same, they don't have a person in our control room or they have some sort of agreement with a private ambulance service or whatever.

Here is the issue (that I face ALOT!)

I arrive at the details I've been given.
But it's wrong, wrong road, wrong area, wrong number - whatever - it's wrong!
I ask my dispatcher to do a call back.
You know who they call back? SAPS or 107 (0214807700) and then THEY have to call you back to get the correct details... many times, the numbers taken (your number you gave) are taken down wrong or whatever.
That causes delays! Sometimes, major delays.

My advice (if you guys ever bother to listen to me) is as follows;

Depending on where you live, and your medical aid, find out your preferred ambulance service number and save it where you need to, educate your kids on the number to dial and please, remain calm when using the number, especially when providing information to the call taker, land marks, etc.

If you happen to be with a security company who happens to offer medical assistance with / included in the security package, find out exactly what that entails, don't assume! If you not sure, get them to e-mail the information to you and pass it onto me and I'll explain where possible - because I know of quite a few security companies here in Cape Town who call private ambulances if they arrive at a medical emergency and those guys will bill YOU and the bills start almost instantly in thousands and as you get medications / advanced life support - can get higher and higher.
If you have medical aid, that's fine - I've spoken about medical aids in the past so referrer to that post if need be.

Back to the original problem, I've DM'd (direct message) ADT to find out what type of medical assistance they supply / provide because I'm sure already I know (as I've mentioned) what they do - and they charge for it ( :wtf: )

Cut the middle man out, do the calling yourself please guys!
 
As a Discovery Hospital Plan subscriber is there a preferred number or ambulance one should dial?
 
Like I said, get the number of your preferred ambulance in the area and call them.

In Cape Town, Netcare 911 isn't a very big ambulance service as it was in PTA or JHB.
Apparently in PTA / JHB, ER24 isn't big, but in Cape Town, they have alot of ambulances.
Like Durban, I hear Rescue Care ambulances are big there.

So, get the number of a service that you know (see alot) and call them in times of emergencies.
 
Are 6th they only call for you and don't run their own ambulances or outsourcing Netcare?

Sounds like you're making an assumption. Call an ambulance for you is just retarded.

Anyway Netcare Ambulance service is a million times faster than government ones.
 
In the first aid course I did earlier this year, 10177 is drilled into you.
 
Where does 112 go?

/ I'd like to know the % of emergency calls that originate from a landline...
 
Shi said:
I think 112 is the same as 10177, but 112 is from a cell
Click to expand...

Clear as mud.

I think this is a useful thread to ultimately make sticky with a informative OP.

Bottom line, I have no idea who to call. OP indicates I should do research in my local area and record their number.
 
as many are aware, very recently a youngster jumped from a rooftop in sea point & landed about 20m from where i was.

when i got to him i called both 112 & 082911.

112, is a national call centre & patched my call through to local metro rescue.
they despatched emergency medical services, but also the sea point fire dept, as the fire dept were within minutes from the location & have some equipment / medical training.

082911 (netcare), despatched advanced life support (normal cars) as well as ambulance following.

fire dept were at the scene within 5 mins, metro rescue & netcare within 10, which was pretty fast given the incident occurred at 6.10pm
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response was fantastic & thanks has to be given for the considerable effort put in to save the youngster.
er24 also got here as well as a doctor.

was interesting how they all worked together as a unified team sharing equipment / disposables in their effort.

kudos to all.

@gdiza - if you know any of the respondents to this incident, let them know their effort did not go unnoticed by the various residents who saw what was going on.


**interesting side note
fire dept called me the next day to enquire as to the condition of the youngster
 
gdiza said:
Well, last I heard, ADT was a security company, I've never heard of anything medical coming out of ADT.
Now, they are expecting people to join them (FREE 2 months!) and then they provide medical assistance too - which means that they will probably call an ambulance for YOU and herein is the issue!
Click to expand...

Don't know about ADT but our local security company has their own ambulance service.
 
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