Study shows people make 911 calls for others

By Laura Pelner
Summer Reporter

A study by the American Heart Association found that people are more likely to call 911 for other people than for themselves if they are experiencing severe health problems, specifically heart attack symptoms.

Dr. Chris Brandenburg, an emergency room physician and the medical director of the Tippecanoe emergency ambulance service, has definitely found this to be true.

Brandenburg said, "Most people, especially the elderly, are genuinely stoic and don't want to call about themselves. They don't think the situation is bad enough."

Yet, he added that many times people tell a family member about the problem and that person calls instead.

Some people may be in a state of denial about their situation. Mary Lou Clendenning, the team leader of urgent care at the Purdue Student Health Center, said denial is probably the biggest deterrent to getting help.

"The person denies they might be having a heart attack or another bad thing," said Clendenning.

She said someone watching might have a more objective opinion and get help.

Mike Middleton, a sergeant for the Purdue Police, offered another reason why people may not call for help themselves. He said, "Most of the time the people that need help aren't in the condition to call."

Middleton said out of 100 true 911 calls probably only 10 are for the person who calls. "A real low percentage call for themselves," he said.

Not calling emergency services to get help could have severe consequences. Brandenburg said, "We see patients show up hours after they should've been here because they called late or refused to call 911. Sometimes minutes are important, let alone hours."

Brandenburg places some of the blame for people's fear or lack of knowledge about the emergency systems on the medical world. "I think part of the problem is the medical profession's inability to make the public aware of what life threatening conditions are," said Brandenburg. "Some public awareness has helped but a lot of individuals still are not aware of how the 911 system works — when they should or should not use it or if they're abusing it."

Brandenburg added there is no criterion for calling 911. "For anyone who calls 911 the ambulance is sent to the house because it is too hard over the phone to diagnose people."

He said the ambulance will show up and assess the situation to see if the problem is, or is not, life threatening.

Some people may be afraid to call 911 because they do not think their problem is serious enough. Brandenburg urges people not to worry though. "If they are concerned they are having a life-threatening situation, whether it be chest pain or a stroke or a life threatening type of hemorrhage, they definitely need to call 911. If there is any question in their mind that it's not very serious they should at least contact their family doctor."

If the family doctor is not available Brandenburg said they should come to the emergency department or call 911. "We would rather transfer 100 people with non-acute life threatening diseases than miss one who did," said Brandenburg.

Middleton had similar thoughts. "The service (911) is there to help people. If they feel they're putting someone out they should forget that. The police department will transport anyone if they don't feel good enough to walk. The services are here, and for everyone to use."

Study shows people make 911 calls for others

Cool Classes

Working out at the
Co-Rec RSC