It’s happened to me several times over the course of single womanhood: a scary near-accident shakes my sense of all’s quiet on the home front.
My brain scampers away with a host of scenarios in which I -- the sole adult in the home -- am suddenly incapacitated and unable to care for myself and my child.
The key to surviving is often simply knowing when to call for help, and then doing it.
The most likely emergencies are debilitating health conditions and accidents.
Connie Meyer, RN, MICT has seen a lot of both in her 26 years of riding ambulances. She’s presently a paramedic and EMS Captain in Johnson County, Kansas, working 24-hour shifts. She’s also on the Board of Directors for the
National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT).
Meyer says a lot people get into trouble because they don’t know at what point a situation goes from being something that will do fine through your own care at home into a condition that requires professional medical treatment.
The first thing she cites as a reason to call: severe pain.
Pain to me may not be pain to you. “Whenever anyone tells me that this is the worst headache or some other type of pain that they’ve ever experienced, that’s a red flag,” Meyer confirms.
Many of us typically resist calling 911, for several reasons. For one thing, it can make our fears seem more real. It’s not easy to make that call you’ve always dreaded, and even scarier to travel in an ambulance. Women, especially, will often cite that they “don’t want to bother anyone,” implying that their condition may or may not truly be an emergency.
EMT’s like Meyer want you to call, even if what you think might be a heart attack turns out to be that pizza you just ate. In fact, she jokes, “Besides the physical symptoms, the other number one symptom of a heart attack is denial.”
Cardiac Events & Strokes
On heart attacks specifically, women’s symptoms aren’t always as acute and traumatic as we’ve seen portrayed in films. Meyer explains, “Women tend to say they feel pressure in the chest or tightness, along with dizziness, weakness, nausea, and shortness of breath. Many times they think it’s ‘just’ indigestion, but indigestion responds to over-the-counter treatments.”
Other pains that may indicate heart attack include unusual discomfort in one or both arms, your back, neck, stomach, or even jaw.
Heart attack symptoms are sometimes sudden, but can also develop slowly over longer periods.
The warning signs of a stroke generally come quickly and include:
- Numbness, weakness of the face, arm, or leg, often on only one side
- Confusion, difficulty forming and understanding words
- Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- Difficulty walking, loss of coordination or balance
- Severe headache with no known cause
Illness & Dehydration
Meyer says that she frequently sees people who have a minor illness such as the flu, but who are seriously dehydrated. “If you start becoming dizzy every time you stand up or you cannot keep any food or liquids down, it’s time to call.”
It’s easy for women who are caring for children or aged dependents to let their own illness reach the point of serious dehydration and resulting debilitation.
Falls & Sprains or Breaks
If you’ve fallen, whether by stumbling on a rug or from a ladder, call 911 if:
- You can’t ambulate -- can’t walk or get up from either sitting or lying down
- You hit your head and have persistent blurry vision, dizziness, or headache
- Any time you’ve had any loss of consciousness
Even if you’re feeling fine after any of the above, EMT will suggest you be evaluated by a physician, possibly with a CAT scan, for either head or spinal injury. You may also be asked to be observed for a couple of days either at the hospital or by another adult at your home.
If possible, avoid driving yourself to an emergency room if you have a serious sprain or break. While you might technically be able to handle a vehicle, you have no way of knowing at the start of your journey whether or not your pain level will increase to the point that you cannot drive. Have someone else drive you or call an ambulance instead.
Burns & Cuts
Significant burns of your hands and face, especially, warrant a call to 911. Apply cold water to burns, not ice and never oil-based substances like butter or ointment.
Apply direct pressure to bleeding cuts for at least five to ten minutes. Elevate the area above your heart, if possible. Once bleeding stops, wash with soap and water and apply a sterile bandage.
Any bleeding that does not stop after the application of direct pressure for five (5) minutes might need more help than you can render yourself. Call 911.
Miscellaneous
Shock is a life-threatening condition that can result from illness or injury. If your blood pressure dips and remains too low for too long, irreparable damage can be done.
Shock can occur when something internal is going awry whether or not the person knows it. An example specific to women is ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy. A pregnancy can form in the fallopian tube rather than inside the uterus, the result of which may be eventual rupturing. It can occur far earlier than most women will know they are pregnant.
Common indicators of shock include:
- Feeling agitated & restless
- Feeling cold and/or numb
- Dry mouth
- Tight jaw or tense facial facial muscles
- Shallow breathing
Seizures warrant calls to 911, although people who’ve had them regularly will very often resist. Call anyway, Meyer says, because seizures can be signs of bleeding in the brain.
Experienced Advice
“When someone calls 911, they’re always going to be encouraged to go,” Meyer sums up, “because if the person felt bad enough to call 911, that’s enough to warrant being examined by a physician. Even if only to rule out the worst case.”
She also recommends keeping in mind that some cell phones and some regions do not permit 911 operators to automatically determine your location. So if you call from a cell phone, know where you are and be prepared to give an address or building name.
Speaking of cells, if you’re in a large disaster, use your cell phone to send text messages but not make calls. That can leave transmission towers free to handle more communication attempts.
If you’ve never taken a CPR and First Aid class, do so. If the last time you took one was years ago, take another. “There’ve been many changes over the past few years in the recommendations for saving lives. For example, it’s now believed that compressions in CPR are more vital than rescue breathing,” Meyer says. Virtually any hospital or local ambulance service can tell you where to get trained, or you can
visit the American Heart Association‘s website to find a course near you.
Also, defibrillators that can be regularly found now on the walls of public buildings are relatively easy to use. Meyer says that most are voice-prompted and walk the user through the use of the device, making saving lives more of an everyday occurrence.
If you have children in your home, start training them as young as preschool age to dial 911 in an emergency -- and make sure they know their own address and phone number, so they can tell emergency responders.