Staying Calm During an Emergency

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls 9-1-1. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, and then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says, "OK, he’s dead. Now what?"

For the Readyman Webelos Activity, young boys are taught four ways to demonstrate “Courage” during an emergency. Be Strong, Be Calm, Be Clear, Be Careful. I’d like to focus on the importance of being Calm and Clear.

In June of 2009, a natural gas explosion blew the roof off of a ConAgra Food Plant during working hours. Here is one call made to 9-1-1.

"ConAgra just blew up," a caller said.
"ConAgra?" the responder asked.
"ConAgra. In Garner."
"What did it do ma'am?" the responder said. "What do you mean it blew up?"
"It blew up! Please send some help."

Notice how little “real” communication is going on here. When asked a question by the responder, the caller just repeats the same words back, “ConAgra”, “It blew up”. The event is vivid and clear in the mind of the caller to whom ConAgra is obvious and “it blew up” is self-evident. “Please send some help” gives no clue to the scope of the problem, is one EMT needed or a fleet of ambulances?

Callers forget that what is obvious to them may not be obvious to someone at a phone bank in another city. Being Calm and Clear means carefully providing details like “the ConAgra Food Plant #3 in Garner has suffered a huge explosion with dozens injured. We need dozens of ambulances and fire control for an industrial plant.”

Consider this call to 9-1-1 in Arizona in 2008,

"There's three dogs, but one is very aggressive, and the man is holding one, and there's kids over here, too."

How would you interpret this? The responder said she would contact Animal Control. 12 minutes later there is a second call, "We're still waiting for an officer. We've got injuries." Is the picture clear yet? The responder sent a reminder to Animal Control. Then a minute later, "Uh, there's a dogfight over here, and there's been a man bit. And I called about 15 minutes ago, and nobody's here yet." With this call, a different operator, and the magic words, a man’s been bit, medical personal (Fire Dept EMT) were finally mobilized. It turns out a pit bull wriggled out of its leash, lunged at a man with two small kids walking his beagle, bit his right forearm, and dragged him about 7 feet after his beagle barked at the pit bull. Could you have guessed any of this from the original call to 9-1-1?

Watch out for "buzz words" and technical jargon. In another emergency call there was confusion between an armed “robbery” and a “burglary”. Do you know the difference? A robbery is a crime happening now – immediate response is needed to rescue the victim and catch the robber. A burglary is after the fact, the robber is gone, and there is no need for police to hurry. The victim in a Dry Cleaning store armed robbery activated the silent alarm but the emergency dispatcher reported it as a 10-15, burglary just occurred. So the police did not use sirens, arrived slowly at the scene, to find a distressed victim asking, “What took you so long?”

Bottom Line

Be very clear on 9-1-1 to say what you need – police, fire, ambulance. Be clear on what is damaged and injuries and the number of people needing medical attention. Call back if you think 9-1-1 misunderstood or ask to speak with a supervisor.