emergencies

wannavolunteerFT wrote:
i can say that knowing what is nearby is important.

while in Baton Rouge with my parents, had to call 911 for assistance. First concern was convincing the operator that the EMT's could find us in the park.. she didn't know the park had camping. One of the things we were asked was which hospital we wanted to them to transport my dad to. I was unsure, but thankfully the park folks came and gave us some advice.

A year or so later, my dad had the same situation arise; however we were in the middle of nowhere. We knew EMT's were at least 20 miles away by 2 lane road, so we decided to drive out. We were able to get to a hospital 50 miles away in much less time that if we had to wait on EMT's to arrive in St Park, get through the locked gate and then make the 50 mile trip to a hospital. I drove and my mom could check on my dad occasionally. Yep, the hospital ER staff remembers my dad as the man who was delivered by MH.

Now I try to check where ER's or towns with hospitals are when I travel, especially since I tend to stay in state parks in rural areas. I don't panic but it is nice to know which direction to go when someone is sick or injured.

Just a note to your comment here, yes the EMT's would have also had to drive dad to the hospital, but the EMT's (or hopefully paramedics) also have the ability to do a lot of treatment right there. I see and heard of people make this mistake often. They are 20 minutes from the hospital so they think they can get a person to the hospital faster than waiting for an ambulance so off they go and the person dies in the backseat that could have been saved by the paramedics who would have stabilized them before transport.