A Coincidence
95% of the calls we take on a shift are the same old things: suspected heart attacks, strokes, breathing problems, road traffic accidents, diabetics, epileptics and timewasters with minor ailments. While all except the latter are deserving cases, we could deal with them blindfolded. There’s only usually a handful of calls on each shift that make us sit up and go “Crikey! Look what’s happened there!” On a nightshift, the calls tend to be even more mundane and if you were to walk into the control room about 3am, you’d see a lot of bored faces and people trying to prop their eyes open with matchsticks.
It was therefore rather strange that one night this week, we received two identical sounding unusual calls to our sector. Two adult males, living within five miles of each other, fell from third floor balconies on council estates within two hours of each other.
The first call came in from the police. The incident had been spotted by someone in a neighbouring block. Police and ambulance rushed round there, to find a rather tipsy man staggering around cursing and wincing at a pain in his lower back. Though he’d fallen 30ft, he appeared not to have any life threatening injuries. Apparently (according to my colleague) being drunk is a good thing if you happen to fall off a balcony, because the drunkenness makes your body go floppy, which makes you more able to withstand the impact, or something. Or maybe this bloke had nine lives, like a cat. The crew blued him in, but it was purely precautionary.
The second patient, however, was not so lucky. His flatmate had woken in the night to find the window wide open, and on going to close it, had spotted the patient lying motionless on the ground outside. He’d called 999 immediately, but even as he requested the ambulance, he had known from the unnatural way the body lay that the patient was beyond any help. The patient was not taken to hospital since there was no way he could be saved.
Two identical calls, two very different outcomes. I wonder if Fall Guy Number One will hear about Fall Guy Number Two and realise how very lucky he was…
on June 22nd, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Wow, that’s a hell of a scary coincidence!
I’ve just sent off an application form for an EMD post at my local (well, if 26 miles away is local…) ambulance control. Any tips if I get an interview? Other than not to throw up out of nervousness. ;D
on June 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 am
I sometimes forget that you lot are involved in these things. I sometimes hate you but could never do your job, if you know what I mean. i’m sure you do.
You probably deal with a lot more of these tings than we do, in your own way. Had not thought about that before. Interesting.
on June 23rd, 2007 at 10:59 am
My son has started to sleep walk, he climbed up on to the kitchen worktop the other night, I found him coming back upstairs with an empty cereal bowl in his hand. I just guide him back to bed; he remembers nothing about it the next day. In a week or two we are going to stay in a house with a third floor balcony, I will be hiding the key to the window!
on June 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 pm
A few people have told me similar Mark. A baby can survive the fall from a balcony, because while it’s aware of what’s happening, it doesn’t know what’s going on, so doesn’t fear the fall (or landing). However, put an adult in their place, and they do know what’s about to happen, they tense up in firght and that’s what causes injuries.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that anybody tries this to check whether the theory works or not…
Regards
Nick
http://nickhough.blogspot.com
on June 25th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Nick
the stats on this show it to be true, the same goes for drunken falls.
there are no stats on payalised fallers, probally due to them not being stupid enough to jump out of a window.
on June 25th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Seems like the weekend for it. On Saturday at our friends roof terrace, a girl sat on a sky light and went straight through it, falling 13ft to the floor below. We called the ambulance service, who were excellent and turned up in 5 minutes. They strapped her up and took her to hospital. Fortunately she was fine, nothing more than a sore back. It may well have been the several drinks she’d had before that saved her from worse injury..
on July 20th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Sounds like an excellent excuse to be permanently sozzled. I’ll drink to that.