Have you ever called 911

[JennyMominRI]

Have you ever called 911?
I have 2 times..Once when I was bleeding a lot during a pregnancy and then last mnth with ED... When I called for Ed it took them literally 2 minutes to come.. How was your EMS/police response?

 

[LindsayDunn228]

9/11?? Do you mean 911??

 

[JennyMominRI]

9/11?? Do you mean 911??

Thanks Fixed that

 

[Steffi]

I called 911 once when my mother was having CHF. It took them just under 5 minutes to respond, but it seemed like an eternity!

 

[LindsayDunn228]

To answer your question, yes, but only once for "home use." The rest of the times it was at work.

I called from home one time because of an incident that happend Thanksgiving Day 2005. A few meters from our house is just a field of tall grass. It is not our property though. Well late that night we kept hearing a freaking car driving up in that area. I say freaking because it is full of trees and stumps and whatnot.

So this car starts coming down the hill toward our house and stops, shining it's lights in our bedroom window. We called the police. That guy had no business up there and he was being very disruptive. His car got hung on a felled tree and he couldn't move it.

It turns out he lives a few houses down. The police tracked him down, brought him back to our house and made him apologize for disturbing the peace. How's that for living in the South?

He came back the next morning with a friend and got his car unstuck.

 

[TinkerTracy]

No I've never called.

 

[korbbec]

Yes- my BF and I were being mugged. He got them away from me and I dialed 911. No one ever answered. I ended up permanently injured. I called another time and did not get an answer. 911 stinks.

 

[disneygals]

yep, in 1999 when my dd5 had a seizure. Police and ambulance showed up pretty quick. We live in a small town, less than 5 mins from police station.

DD had one more seizure at 6.5 and luckily no more.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Believe it or not, the first time I ever called 911, was when I was staying (at the then) Dixie Landings.

My 16 year old, who was 2 at the time, was jumping on the bed and fell off. She hit the back of her head on the pointed night-stand, which made her head rear forward and hit the wooden bed rails.

It knocked her clean out.

They were there in minutes. I believe they were firefighters, but I don't remember too much about what they were dressed like.

She woke up while they were checking her vital signs.

She had a horribly swollen black eye for the rest of our trip, but we did get a good nickname out of it. She was then known as Popeye.

 

[AprilShowers]

Yep, couple of times. We used to live across the street from a bar. We used to call alot when they brawled in the street. That was fun. The bar owner had a police scanner and would yell out the window when the police were coming, so it almost never did any good.

Another time at work, a pregnant co-worker had a seizure, I called and they were there in about 3 minutes. She and baby were fine in the end.

That's all I can remember.

 

[Virgo10]

Yes, too many times to count. The last house I lived in in Massachusetts was located right near a busy corner. I guess people thought that stop sign up there applied to everyone but them. The worst accident was one Sunday morning when it sounded like a bomb went off. I'm not sure what happened but a guy hit the telephone pole on the corner and never even touched the brakes. I was the first person there and the car's engine was sitting on his lap. Surprisingly, he was still conscious.

I've also had 911 called FOR me twice. Once when my car was hit by another driver literally feet from my apartment and again last October when I had my first gallbladder attack. I thought the arrival times were very fast for me but it always seemed longer when I had called for other people.

 

[BethR]

Yes I have. A couple of years ago we were going home late at night after a late return flight from Disney.

There were not many people on the road, but we began to notice someone who was weaving all over the road. We got behind this person in order to stay away from him and after he bounced off of a New Jersey barrier, DH told me to call 911. So I did. We continued to follow this person down the road where he was stopped by eventually stopped by the police.

I think that is the only time I have dialed 911.

ETA - I just realize that Jenny was asking about response time. Well, it is hard for me to say. I know that I was talking to the 911 operator and then s/he transferred me to the state police and that I was on the phone for a while with then trying to tell them exactly where we were, the description of the car we were following, etc. If I recall, I was on the phone with them until we saw him being pulled over. So it is kind of hard to say exactly what the "response time" was.

 

[tigerdragon]

Only once. Several years ago I had to at work. I was sitting at my table working and a guy from a different department started walking towards me, stumbling around a bit, and nearly ran into me. At first I thought he was fooling around, which was very strange because I didn't really know him. But then he walked a little further and fell over into a large pile of books. I called 911 while some coworkers attended to him. It turned out he had diabetes and didn't know about it.

It took less than 10 minutes for them to get there.

 

[freckles and boo]

Several times -

Twice from the road to report accidents. I don't know how long it took because other people stayed with the victims. I had small kids with me and I didn't want them to see. I would have stayed if others hadn't.

Once when a diaper delivery man had a seizure getting into his truck in front of my apartment and hit his head on the street. This was in Chicago and it took about five minutes.

Once, when going for a late summer night walk, a drunk neighbor followed us home with something that look like a gun (it was a broom) and threatened us. That was scary. It took about a minute and a half.

I also called 911 when I finally decided, yes I am in labor and this baby is coming fast and I can't possibly sit up in a car and damn this baby is coming NOW!!! It also took about a minute and a half. We live four blocks from PD and FD. I was eight centimeters, she was early, and my husband was out of town.

ETA - I forgot, we called many times for my in-laws. Emphysema and Multiple Sclerosis sometimes create crisis situations that happen very suddenly. They lived in the country so it could take between fifteen minutes to half an hour.

Another ETA - I lived in an apartment in an old house across from a high school. Some kid parked his (dad's) car on a huge pile of leaves and the catalytic converter started the car on fire. Another quick response time.

 

[sPaRkLeSpAz]

Only once.. But it wasn't for anything important.. When I was little, my older cousin would always tell me to do things, then I would get in so much trouble. But she was (and still is!) one of my role models. Well, she told me to call 911, then called my parents in the room. I got into soo much trouble. They never believed that she put me up to it.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Nope, never called. But then again, both myself and my husband work for the fire department, so we just call the dispatcher.

In terms of 911 response times, it depends a lot on the system in your area. Around here, 911 is a statewide operation, so they answer the phone and then transfer you to the appropriate dispatch agency. I know it seems like forever before someone shows up after your call, but trust me, we're getting there as quickly as possible.

Jen

 

[Serena]

Once for me. My dryer was smoking up the house, I thought it was on fire but I couldn't really tell where the smoke was coming from. I could barely see.
There were 3 firetrucks in frong of my house. A firefighter came in, went downstairs and unplugged my dryer. Problem solved.

There are many accidents on either corner where I live. I've called several times for those.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Yes. I saved a strangers house from burning down.
The maid had a ciggy break and tossed the lit butt under a bush. Well the dried leaves uinder the bush caught fire almost instantly but she was back inside and did not see it. I call 911 and in seconds the flames were 10 feet high. Must have been a dry season. The flames reached over the first floor brick garge and lit the second story frame on fire. All in only 5 minutes. Then the FD showed up and ripped off the siding and went inside to do the same to the walls. Fire was already in the second floor wall. So they had a soaked room over the garage and that was it. I saved their house!

I wonder of the maid was fired?

Mikeeee

 

[ead79]

I have called 911 several times. Once we called when we were just behind an accident on the freeway. We heard a bang and saw a huge puff of smoke just around the corner. When we rounded it we saw the wrecked cars. My mom got out to help, and we stayed in the car and called 911. I don't know what the response time was because someone that was either an EMT or nurse showed up and took over for my mom who doesn't have that training, so we left since we weren't witnesses either.

I have also called for some other wrecks--living in Atlanta that happens a lot unfortunately. I have also called the local police to report a drunk driver on the freeway.

Another time I called for a coworker at work who fainted and had some other health issues. Their response time was pretty decent for it being such a crowded/traffic heavy area--my guess is under 10 minutes. She ended up being just fine.

 

[minniecarousel]

Yeah - I called when my Mom had her heart attack. I'm not sure how long it took them, but I remember the operator telling me to calm down. (I didn't think I sounded that frantic, but I obeyed her!) The paramedics that came were great. My best friends' son is a PM now. It's funny to picture a boy you took while in kindergarten to the fire station being in control in a life-threatening situation, but he's had so much training, I know I'd trust him.