How many times have you had to call 911?

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

So today I'm driving home from work, traveling south. A car is coming in the North bound lane. Only the 2 of us on the road (in sight). All of a sudden the car comes over into my lane, goes off my side of the road, ramps this driveway and smacks down into a ditch.

I stop, call 911 & while I am talking to them go to check on the driver. It was an older gentleman. He was alert and conscience, had several cuts to his hands & arms & was pretty shaken up. Both of his air bags were deployed & the windshield was cracked & bits of hair & what appeared to be skin were stuck in the cracks but I couldn't see anywhere he had hit his head. I stayed with him until the EMS came.

My question is how many times have you had to call 911? (or the equivalent) How many of those times were for strangers?

The reason I ask is I feel like I have had more encounters like this than is normal. Besides the above incident:

- A woman flagged me down in the middle of a snow storm, didn't know who she was or where she was. She sat in my vehicle until the EMS came. I found out later she had been cleaning her car off when she had an aneurysm, passed out in the snow for some undetermined amount of time (long enough that she was visibly frost bitten by the time she flagged me down) I have spoken to her since & she is alive & doing great.

- I witnessed another car accident in which one of the drivers was pinned in his van, the other had hit his head pretty hard & was confused. I had to call 911 & hold the 2nd drivers hand until the EMS got there to keep him from wandering off.

- I had to give a coworker the heimlich maneuver. Didn't have to call 911 but still an odd thing

- A man was wandering down the road when I was on my porch one night & as he approached me I realized he was bloody every where & confused. I had to call 911. I never did figure out if this man had been in a car accident or had been beaten (he said both at different times.)

- When I was about 16 I had to call 911 in the middle of the night for my 8 year old brother. It was like 3 in the morning & his coughing woke me up (I'm usually a very deep sleeper) He is severely asthmatic & by the time I got to him he was passed out on the floor & blue. He is 26 now & doing fine.

I don't live in a bad neighborhood, it's actually a very good neighborhood. I don't get it. Is this normal? I think there are alot of people who have never had to call 911 in their life. I have had to call several times. Just curious.

[eyenon15]

I've never called it.

Probably has something to do with your willingness to help, I wouldnt stop for someone flagging me down for example. Not even in a snowstorm.

Probably if you did live in a bad neighborhood you might be less likely to help strangers.

[sologdin]

twice. both times when woken in the middle of the night because someone outside my place somewhere was screaming bloody murder. i wouldn't've guessed before the first one that it's possible to tell the difference between a loud asshole screwing around and someone genuinely being savaged. as i discovered, there can be no doubt in the distinction.

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

I've never called it.

Probably has something to do with your willingness to help, I wouldnt stop for someone flagging me down for example. Not even in a snowstorm.

Probably if you did live in a bad neighborhood you might be less likely to help strangers.

Maybe. I probably wouldn't stop if I happened to be driving through a bad neighborhood. But this woman was in clear need of help. I think most people would have stopped.

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

twice. both times when woken in the middle of the night because someone outside my place somewhere was screaming bloody murder. i wouldn't've guessed before the first one that it's possible to tell the difference between a loud asshole screwing around and someone genuinely being savaged. as i discovered, there can be no doubt in the distinction.

How scary!

I forgot about the time i called 911 because 2 old men were fighting in my mom's yard. That actually was not in a good neighborhood & was more comical than anything else. Neither of them were hurt but they sure were mad!

[Summah]

I've lived in plenty of bad neighborhoods and I'm not at all unwilling to help people, I'm careful and I will try to avoid calling the police at all costs, but if it's really an emergency I will call 911. And I will try to help in other ways if possible. Personally, eyenon, I think that's a shit excuse, don't help if you don't want to, but don't use a bad neighborhood as an excuse.

[Crowfood's Daughter]

A bazillion times. Im a nurse that works at off site facilities. When things go south we send them out..."um hello, yes I have a patient that needs to be sent to the ER".

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

A bazillion times. Im a nurse that works at off site facilities. When things go south we send them out..."um hello, yes I have a patient that needs to be sent to the ER".

:) at least there is someone who has called more than me!

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

I've lived in plenty of bad neighborhoods and I'm not at all unwilling to help people, I'm careful and I will try to avoid calling the police at all costs, but if it's really an emergency I will call 911. And I will try to help in other ways if possible. Personally, eyenon, I think that's a shit excuse, don't help if you don't want to, but don't use a bad neighborhood as an excuse.

I think s/he was just saying they wouldn't stop for someone trying to flag them down in a bad neighborhood. I don't think that's unreasonable really. It would depend on the situation but you never know if it's someone trying to mug you or whatever.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Never. In my country we have 116 :D #badumtsss...

Joking aside, I've called emergency a few times. Sadly, twice for the same reason: the same couple fighting on the street, with their baby girl watching it. First time, I called as a precaution because the guy was getting very violent and loud, and it was a child involved. The second time, they were both actually physically attacking each other (yeah, with the girl in her stroller, watching the whole thing).

[Castellan]

only once in quite a long life. a tent fly in the neighbours yard got whipped up by the wind into the power lines, generated some sparks, and a tree in their back boundary neighbours caught fire really quickly. However, my call was totally unnecessary because it had already been reported, and I couldn't give them the help they needed like tell them the probable street number of the house over the back fence.

It sounds like worse weather and worse roads where you live, if not actually a 'bad neighbourhood'. I live in one of the safest places on earth, probably.

There's probably been times where if I had some skills (like knowing the heimlich manoeuvre) I would have stepped forward, noticed more of what was going on, and racked up a few more incidents.

[mcbigski]

Just once, car fire on the interstate. The dispatcher seemed already up to speed when I said 'there's a car on fire by exit 32'. And that was that.

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

Never. In my country we have 116 :D #badumtsss...Joking aside, I've called emergency a few times. Sadly, twice for the same reason: the same couple fighting on the street, with their baby girl watching it. First time, I called as a precaution because the guy was getting very violent and loud, and it was a child involved. The second time, they were both actually physically attacking each other (yeah, with the girl in her stroller, watching the whole thing).

Oh my :( poor little girl.

only once in quite a long life. a tent fly in the neighbours yard got whipped up by the wind into the power lines, generated some sparks, and a tree in their back boundary neighbours caught fire really quickly. However, my call was totally unnecessary because it had already been reported, and I couldn't give them the help they needed like tell them the probable street number of the house over the back fence.

It sounds like worse weather and worse roads where you live, if not actually a 'bad neighbourhood'. I live in one of the safest places on earth, probably.

There's probably been times where if I had some skills (like knowing the heimlich manoeuvre) I would have stepped forward, noticed more of what was going on, and racked up a few more incidents.

We seriously have like no crime here. 5 years ago some teenagers broke into the pop machine & took the change. That's the extent of the the excitement we get.

We may have worse roads & weather conditions but aside from the snow storm one (the lady wasn't driving) the other 2 car accidents happened in broad daylight, clear sunny skies. I think I just have bad luck. :lol: Or I'm always in the wrong place at the right time.

[Prince of the North]

I've never needed to cal 911 :dunno:

[Pebble thats Stubby]

oh where do I start? These where the times I've called 999 while fully clothed.

twice at arround xmass when Grandad had one of his turns.

once when the guy in a motorbike while stopped at a junction he fell over and was having a heart attack.

once when we discovered a car in a ditch that was on fire

once when I came home from work and noticed one of the houses in the street being burgled.

and once when this old confused lady was at first I thougth trying to cross the road but soon realised she was probably suffering from some form of dementure and had escaped, when I tried to help her she sat in the middle of the road and took all her clothes off then complain at how cold it was.

the only time I've been naked and called 999 without sharing with the board before was when hubby was very ill in the night. I don't need to repeat the other stories.

I've been in situations where other people have called them, normally these involve me being nakid and locked out of the house. I've shared those stories with you before.

[Lord Flashheart]

A bazillion times. Im a nurse that works at off site facilities. When things go south we send them out..."um hello, yes I have a patient that needs to be sent to the ER".

I used to manage group homes and have had to call 911 countless times also. Either for health issues or something as simple as a fire alarm went off. The alarm was hard wired and couldn't be shut off without fireman coming to shut it off. So yeah, a lot.

[jagilki]

Not yet.

[Castellan]

I have read one of Hugging Pebbles true life accounts and it was thrilling. Car crash! Nudity! Neighbours! Police! I think Lyanna should not move to the same neighbourhood as Pebbles or something will happen like the fall of Valyria.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

Some dumb fuck was stalking my grandmother in a honda civic and since I couldn't get to them myself, I called the police. Someone broke into my home once, and once they saw I wasn't leaving for them, they ran. I called the police afterwards and they were arrested.

[brook]

I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've had to call emergency on my parents (first time I would have been 5ish, the last time I was 30), I'm also somewhere in double digits for having to call on behalf of a friend of mine with severe epilepsy.

Three times due to eldest child.