Christmas time is a busy time for us. I took a call from an elderly woman who told me her husband has fallen off the ladder while attempting to take down the Christmas lights from the attic. When questioning the woman about her husbands medical history, she advised me he has vertigo (which is basically dizziness!). People want to be so independent, but really if you are prone to dizziness, what are you doing on a ladder anyway, isn't there a neighbor that could have helped him?

Trying to get closer to God?

Years ago I took a call that I was sure was what we call "bogus" or unfounded. How in the world can someone take an electric drill and drill a hole in their forehead and still be coherrent enough to walk around and talk? Back in time, when the ratio of land line phones to cell phones were just the opposite of what it is now. Back when just the elite had cell phones. Now adays everybodys got cell phones and use them at their house too... this posing a real problem to 911 operators who are trying to get them the timely help that is very much needed, with modern technology, this is not as great as a problem as it used to be. So, I got a call from a cell phone who told me I wasn't going to believe this, the caller said if they hadn't been there they certainly wouldn't. I thought, Ok, this should be good! The caller then went on to tell me they were just at their friends house and the patient had drilled a hole in their head with an electric drill. OK, I thought this is the call of calls, the one you have to share! So we send the crews lights and sirens, you never know if this is a true emergency or not! The crews arrive on scene to a patient holding their hand on their forehead with an obviously bloody tissue. They look and sure enough, a hole right in the middle of their forehead! The patient was being very neat and blotted the wound with a tissue, as was evident by the bowl of of tissues on the dining room table, and also was dipping the drill bit in a glass of bloody water to clean it off (complete with brain matter!). The chief who arrived on scene, told me later that he looked and noticed a ring around the hole, told the patient, I see the hole but what is that ring around it? That was where the chuck of the drill was hitting the patients head! The chief checked and let me know later that the drill bit had just cleared both halves of the patients brain fortunately for the patient not hitting any major parts of the brain. As is with most of the calls we take, I never heard the outcome of this patient.

911 what is your EMERGENCY?

I recieved a call from a frantic woman who advised me she babysits for kids and a mother dropped off her 5 year old son at about 530 in the am - I recieved the call at about 8 in the morning. The child was cold to the touch and not breathing. I immediately went into disaster mode as I was sure I had a bad call - got the units rolling and asked if anyone knew cpr. She didn't, I advised her I would talk her through it while the units were responding to her as is our policy. CPR is Cardio Pulminary Resuscitation which we are all trained in. I advised the caller to get the child on the floor to start CPR. Then I heard a male voice in the background and asked who was that, thinking the crew certainly hasn't arrived yet. She told me that was her husband. I asked to put him on the line because I felt the female I was talking to was not working fast enough to try and save this little 5 year old boy. He got on the phone and I asked if he knew CPR. He asked for what? I said you have a 5 year old boy not breathing. Just then I heard the sirens and thought oh good they are arriving on scene. The husband advised me there was no child there. When the crews finally came inside, they gave the Luitenant the phone. I quickly learned that the "babysitter" was what we call Signal 20, which means not quite right in her mind, and the "child" was actually a leather couch that had been cold to the touch! People check out who you have watching your kids and hopefully they are qualified!

911 what is your EMERGENCY?

I have been a 911 operator in Florida for the past 15 years. During that time, I have heard all kinds of "EMERGENCIES" as you can imagine, some real, some not so much! The majority - not so much. We are the main public service answering point for the county in which I reside, which basically means we get all the calls for the county who dial 911 from their cell phone or from their residential phones who are not in the 4 incorportated cities in my county. We never know what kind of call we are going to get next, whether it be from a frantic mother who has lost her 2 year old, from a drunk who wants to know what time it is, my asnswer would be if not for the taped phone lines, time to get a watch! We get loads of "pocket calls" when that cell phone magically calls 911 from their pocket or their purse! When school is out we get calls from kids with nothing better to do than call 911 - where are the parents of these kids ?? We get plenty of calls from schools obviously from kids who are allowed to have their cell phones on in class.
While on a Thansgiving vacation with my family in Vermont recently, I was urged to start a blog on weird calls that I have received. This will serve as my blog for my many calls I have and will continue to have in my carreer as a 911 operator.