Thursday, December 07, 2006

Fallen off the perch

First off thanks to everyone for the comments and e-mails that I've been getting. Great to hear from you all.

Here's a quick one I heard on the radio today and you'll just have to trust me, this is 100% true.

A dual car response was sent this afternoon to someone who had "fainted" at home. The cars were merrily speeding through the streets when the dispatcher came on the radio and said "Guys you can both cancel........(long pause)......it turns out the patient who fainted was a bird". Yep, someone's budgie had collapsed at home and they had called an ambulance. Of course the radio then lit up with all the predictable witty comments.

Along the same lines I'm told there is also a recording of a 000 call here in Melbourne where it was only during the over-the-phone CPR instructions that the call taker finally worked out that the patient was a dog that had run into the road and been hit by a car.

Gold.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just thought I should let you know I love your blog. I start as a student ambulance officer in Tasmania in February after being a volunteer officer for TAS for seven years.

Adam

rob said...

Hey Adam, congratualtions on getting in. More adventures coming your way!

Anonymous said...

At least they must, err, trust you to try to call you out when their pets are sick!...you could see it as a vote of confidence - even after 6 years at vet school it can be a struggle to convince people to accept any kind of advice / assistance when it comes to their beloved pets sometimes...maybe you guys are getting a good message across...

Seriously though, I'd love to see the transcript of the CPR conversation leading up to when the call taker realised it was a dog!

Great blog by the way...

rob said...

Thank you Kim (the vet!)- yeah I think the transcript would be a great read.

Anonymous said...

Hey rob, I've just stumbled on your blog so please excuse the late comment!

Anyway, I have heard the MAS tape of the dispatch to the '5yom suspected cardiac arrest' that turned out to be a dog. Hysterical. The call taker started to cotton on that something was wrong when the caller kept saying that she couldn't keep her 'boy' on his back to do chest compressions.

I've also heard a recording of a job almost the same as the bird one you described, only the one I heard was a person of unknown gender unconscious, phone was put left off hook and the recording picked up the moment that the crew arrived and also when they told the call taker (very jovially... not) that the patient was a bird - hence gender unknown :)

rob said...

Beautiful. You just have to shake your head and laugh don't you :)