911 is the emergency number here in Canada if you’re unfamiliar. 112, 999, etc if you’re elsewhere IIRC.
Do you remember the first time you had to use it?
What were you thinking, feeling?
First time I had to use it in earnest I was working front end at a post office and there was a random guy doing maintenance behind me in the back area of the office. Barely said a word to him, he barely said a word to me. I was fairly busy and he seemed kinda gruff.
Bit later all of a sudden he taps me on the shoulder pretty aggressively, I turned and was getting ready to give him some not-polite words about touching me like that and how he better not damn well do that again but I stopped when I saw the look on his face.
He just says, “call 911.”
I look blankly at him, getting some mental whiplash, and just dumbly go, “what?”
Him, “I’m having a fucking heart-attack, CALL 911!”
That got through so I called them, gave them the info. He went back into the office and laid down.
I was a bit in shock myself and just looked at the customers in line in front of me and said to the woman, “he’s having a heart attack, sorry.”
Honestly think I could’ve handled the situation better, at least gone back and been more empathetic but I was caught between him, customers, and making sure I was visible so I could wave the paramedics to where they needed to go.
The post office there was tucked into the back corner and most of the store didn’t even know about it until I told them later that day.
Never heard anything after, no clue if the guy survived, or not. Didn’t see him again either way.
You?
The conservatives were elected and with that comes their usual slew of social cuts. This time it was apparently cuts to caring for people with permanent brain trauma. I worked downtown a lot and seen this guy collapse at a bus stop and start convulsing on the ground. My first thought was “Why is this guy on the ground, why is he napping there?”. Props to the Indigenous girl that probably deals with this shit all the time back home with her traumatized elders; she looked me in the eye and told me to call 911, understanding I had no idea what was going on. So I did and the operator gave a scripted list of questions regarding the guys info which I didn’t know any of it. The paramedics came to get him and I left.
I seen the same guy collapse at another bus stop a few weeks later, and again couple days after that. Dude should have seriously still been in the hospital, but fascists do what fascists do. Ofc, maybe he just left the hospital on his own accord, but the elections had just finished a short while before and we had a new, right-wing, dumbass premier that hated poor people, especially poor, disabled people.
I’m kind of shocked that you feel like you can confidently claim you know this guy’s condition and the cause of him not receiving proper care when you had to be told to call 911 for someone fucking convulsing on the ground.
You really tried to sneak that past by front loading with that tangent, lol.
There’s a decent handful of conditions beyond brain trauma that can lead to convulsions. Unmedicated epilepsy is a pretty obvious one. Supposedly withdrawals from certain illegal substances as well. Hope the guy is getting help now.
And ask any hospital worker, one of the most frustrating parts of care is that people can and do just walk the fuck out.