Friday, August 13, 2010

who to call in an Emergency

I am a proud part of the ERT (Emergency Response Team) in my office(Cisco). Attending the 'Fire Safety' and 'Emergency Handling' training had added a new perspective in my life. Yes, its good to think positive that nothing bad shall ever happen to you or your near and dear ones or for that matter to random ppl. But, you know whats better?

Its better to be prepared to handle the worst situation the best way. Since, we can't get qualified to be doctors/fire personnel overnight, at least, we should know how to inform them at the earliest to minimize damage.
It is very important to call the right help in the right time because even a minute's difference or the type of amenities in the ambulance can make a sea of difference to endangering/saving a soul.
In Bollywood, when the doc tells the hero ,"aapne agar ek minute ki bhi aur der kar di hoti to hum inhe bachaa nahi paate, Well done young boy!", we are like, "WTF,pehli baat to woh young nahi hain aur doosri baathain ki - hero, yaar tu hamesha ek minute se hi kyu bachaata hain re, kabhi do minute ka bhi try kiya kar na!!". :) anyways,4 a change, its true! Not abt d hero being young yaar. Abt d 1 minute.Every second is precious n at that time, you really do not want to waste time asking around for the right number to call when ur already panicky.

I was embarrassed when I didn't know which number to call in case of a medical emergency.SO, this blog is dedicated to ignorant ppl like me. :) Dedicated to Indians who have grown on a such a staple diet of Hollywood that they do not know the 911 equivalent of namma Bharata.

Just listing easy to remember numbers for the benefit of people like me who do not know outside of the regular 100(Police),101(Fire),102(Medical) and 103(Traffic).

Now we have 108 as well which is like the superset of these, to be called only for real time emergencies. That apart, in Bangalore there is a very good network of Ambulances run by Sanjeevani,Rotary Club, and Apollo Hospital.

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http://www.sanjeevini.org/ - Number to call is 1062. Recommended as being pretty good by the Crisis Management Company "When-it-strikes" => Works only in namma Bengaluru.
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In India 108 (1-0-8) is the ERC telephone number of GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute, GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute) is a pioneer in Emergency Management Services in India. As a not - for - profit professional organization operating in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, GVK EMRI is the only professional Emergency Service Provider in India today.
GVK EMRI handles medical, police and fire emergencies through the " 1-0-8 Emergency service". This is a free service delivered through state- of -art emergency call response centres and has over 1900 ambulances across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan,Karnataka, Assam Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh. With the expansion of fleet and services set to spread across more states, GVK EMRI will have more than 10000 ambulances covering over a billion population by 2011.
http://www.emri.in/content/view/24/59/ - Please read info on this site. It has some useful info on the services they offer.
=> All India coverage mostly
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Emergency Ambulance Services
Listed Below are The Emergency Ambulance Services Available in Bangalore :
Comprehensive Trauma Consortium(Sanjeevani) - 1062 / 25202222
Jayadeva Heart Brigade - 1051
Rotary Life Saving Brigade - 1050
=>Known for having a very good setup within the ambulance and especially well –equipped for handling heart attacks. They have Defibrillators, which increase the chance of heart revival by 80% on usage.
Apollo Hospitals - 1066
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As you know these numbers can be dialed from any phone booth or your mobile free of cost.
Mobiles also have a emergency number that can be dialed from anywhere. It does not need a SIM in your cell phone or you being in your own network coverage area or balance in your cell phone (for prepaid users). This number is valid across the globe. It is 112. The way it works is, the call made by you is handled by a person from the Service Provider’s network you connect to and they in turn contact the ambulance service/ fire brigade of that area. It’s a useful number in case of an emergency away from your native city and where no help is available apart from network connectivity to any service provider.

101 is not just for Fire, it is also for Rescue services. So, for e.g if a building has collapsed, the number to call would be 101 for clearing debris and ambulance (102) for taking the injured to the hospital. When calling, make sure you mention address, landmark, number to contact(in case they have trouble locating the place) and also nature of fire, so that they can prepare with the right kind of extinguisher when approaching the scene of action. The extinguishers vary based on if the fire is from burning of petrol/combustible oil , combustible gas like LPG, short circuit, combustible metal , wood etc.

It’s ok to call more than one number and avail help from the one that reaches fastest. No one is going to complain/scold you for trying multiple options when a life is at stake.

Try and store these numbers on your phone. These may save an important life when needed.

What I say next is not just to add masala to my blog. I lost a friend recently in a car accident. He was on the highway on his way to Hassan. I bet, if the people on the road had called paramedics at the right time, I would be probably partying with him and other school friends of mine in Bangkok next month.
So, make note of this info to make sure that if you're around, no life is lost due to ignorance of the lowest order.

Lemme talk another important idiosyncracy that I learnt about. People have a tendency to put water in the mouth of a person who is unconscious in hope of giving him much needed water that might revive him. Absolute bull-crap. DON'T. You'll kill him/her. When we are unconscious/asleep for that matter, any water fed through our mouth goes through our windpipe to our lungs and hence can choke us to death. At any point of time, either food/wind pipe can be open. So, when we are sleeping and not eating/drinking, epiglottis (traffic policeman at the junction of food n wind pipe) opens the much needed wind pipe n sleeps with u.
If you try noticing your gulping action, you'll realize that you can't breathe at that time.
So, its ok to sprinkle water on face, but not feeding it.

Try and learn CPR. As per the new finding, you really dont have to give mouth-to-mouth. So, if the victim is hot n happening, u never heard of the new rule, else u r always up-2-date :)

Another imp info. All hospitals don't take in patients with burns. Bowring Hospital is one that takes.

Thats it on the "Gyaan" front from me for now :) So, be aware! :)

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