Since writing this blog, I have noticed that my often I give our callers bad press. This is unfair. I have been giving far more airtime to those who are abusive and unco-operative than to those who are polite, helpful and grateful for the help we’ve given them. So I hope to redress the balance by talking about some callers who I really think deserve the Nee Naw Award for Textbook Ambulance calling.

Easily the best example of this from today’s calls would be the elderly wife and seven year old granddaughter of a seventy-something year old gentleman with multiple lung problems who unexpectedly collapsed and stopped breathing at home in front of their very eyes. The first three minutes after someone stops breathing are critical, and it’s fairly uncommon to get a call within that all-important window, so when I do, I try to waste no time at all starting CPR. Unfortunately, neither a disabled seventy-something nor a small child is great at this (CPR is more strenuous than it looks, and really hard on the knees!) so I wondered what we were going to do. I’ve had healthy 20 somethings, nurses, and care home staff fall to pieces in the face of the non breathing casualty (er, not literally) and a common attitude is “I might not do it right, so I won’t do anything” which is terribly frustrating for me, knowing that anything is better than nothing and that even if the ambulance arrives in half the time the government says it has to, that will still be too late.

But this supergran didn’t say anything like that. She bounded over to the other side of the room with the aid of her magic walking stick, and tried to get her husband flat on his back on the floor, as per CPR instructions. Meanwhile, the granddaughter picked up the phone on her gran’s instructions and I heard a faint snivelling.

“Hello” I said, and asked the child her age. I didn’t hold up too much hope when she said she was seven, but she was the only person there, so I ploughed on: “I’m an ambulance person and we’re going to help your granddad. There’s an ambulance on its way to you now but we need to help him before it gets there, so I need you to be really brave for me.”

“Okay” said a little voice, “what do I do?” And the snivelling stopped. Just like that. This never happens with adults.

“Tell me what granny is doing?”

The little girl told me that granny was trying to get granddad on to the floor, but not getting very far. She then described that granddad was on the sofa, so I told her to shout out to gran…

“Granny!” she said authoritatively. “Ambulance man says just get him on his back on the sofa, as flat as you can. No, flatter, granny!”

Next I got the little girl to tell me every time granddad took a breath. From this, I could determine that his breathing was not totally absent, but following the agonal pattern, which is not really breathing but what happens as someone is dying. It is also easier to reverse than the state of not breathing at all.

I wondered what was going to happen with the next bits of the instructions: they’re not designed for seven year olds after all, but the little girl did not seem to care that she had no idea what I was talking about. Granny did the CPR for a good minute or two, without stopping, complaining or asking where the ambulance was. Then I saw the ambulance was pulling up outside (wonderful new computers!!) so I sent her out to meet the crew.

Somewhat voyeuristically, I like to say on line for a couple of minutes after the ambulance arrives it it’s quiet enough, and listen to what’s going on. In this case I heard the pitter patter of London Ambulance Service steel toed boots, the rustle of bag and mask and suddenly our little hero burst into noisy, childish sobs now she didn’t have to be a brave grown up any more.

This story has a tentatively happy ending. The man was taken to hospital and was actually breathing at the time. I imagine whatever our wonderful ambulance crew did when they got there got him breathing again, but if it wasn’t for the co-operation and calmness of this unlikely duo, I don’t think they would have been able to do anything. Who knows if the man lived another hour, another day, another month or another year, but however long he lived, his wife and granddaughter should feel proud that they overcame their fears and physical barriers to give him the best chance of survival.

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