The 4 Best Things You Can Do to Help 911 Responders Help You

When emergency situations take place, we have to be ready to swing into action and intervene right away. Naturally, this situation is meet with great amounts of adrenaline, so it is imperative to make sure we have a predetermined idea of what needs to be taking place in the background in order to get the victim to safety as quickly as possible. Whether you are assisting someone who is victim to cardiac arrest, major bleeding or any other medical emergency, here are some things you can do to help 911 responders find you.

Stay Calm and Answer all Questions

Staying calm isn’t exactly easy during an emergency, but doing so is incredibly important. Be sure to calmly and decisively respond to each of the operator’s questions, and never doubt whether a specific question is relevant. While certain questions or information may seem irrelevant, they may in fact help responders reach the situation more quickly, or react appropriately once they arrive.

Know Your Location

Currently, the FCC only requires cellular carriers to report the location of 911 calls with accuracy between 50 and 300 meters. This is certainly better than it’s ever been, but still leaves a bit to be desired when every second genuinely counts. As such, you should have a firm idea of your exact location or address before picking up the phone to dial 911. If you don’t know, you could always ask someone else to make the call while you offer care. If you are the only bystander present, your best bet will be to try to use landmarks, street signs and buildings to provide as much context as possible.

Clear Your Location

Once you know emergency services are on their way, you’ll want to ensure they will have no trouble whatsoever arriving at your location and making their way to the victim. Be sure that there is adequate parking space and clear, unobstructed lanes for the responding crew to quickly navigate through. 

Post Your Address Clearly

This is advice you can take right now for your home or business. Be sure to keep your address highly visible at your driveway or entrance to keep confusion at an absolute minimum. An alternative that is reflective or provides its own light source will be the easiest to detect. Do you already have your mailbox marked with your address? That’s a great idea, but you may want to supplement it with additional signage. Mailbox stickers are often only on one side of the road, and mailboxes themselves aren’t always directly adjacent to their corresponding homes.

Keep Safe Until 911 Responders Arrive with Training from Heart to Beat

Heart to Beat offers comprehensive safety programs to protect you and your employees from the risks and emergencies in both your professional and personal lives. If you’re interested in discovering our team can help you, contact us today at info@hearttobeatllc.com!

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