Friday, September 15, 2017

6 key responsibilities of the 108 emergency caller

The following content was aggregated from multiple web sources and enhanced/updated

Write to letsraisethespirits@gmail.com if you have any additional inputs or leave your comments below the blog

Alright, an emergency can occur to anyone anytime.  It can be due to a sudden cardiac arrest, electrocution, animal or insect bites, hypoglycemia, choking, fainting, sunstroke, severe injuries including fracture and uncontrolled bleeding etc.,

Also, road accidents keep happening every single minute due to unsafe roads, reckless driving habits, drunk and driving, rash driving this list is limitless.

In a post-accident environment, we always talk about the first-responder (the person who takes charge of the situation, provides first-aid and provides direction to others) and seldom talk about the other key people part of the support system like the person who takes charge of clearing the traffic, the person who takes the responsibility to call the 108 or any similar emergency number.  

There is no place to discuss few senseless individuals who take pictures or videos without showing any empathy to the accident victims.  I'm also not going to talk about the inquisitive or the curious bystanders who believe that someone else will take care of the victim.

There are many pairs of hands required to save a life and generally, the focus is diverted on only to the first-responder.  Sometimes the first-responder could be just alone and he or she must have to play multiple roles.  

For the sake of simplicity, let's assume there is one more person available to call the Ambulance and this article is all about this person.

When an emergency is reported through 108, the call taker gathers the needed basic information and dispatches appropriate services. Basic information obtained includes:
  1. Where the call is placed from. (district / taluka /city / town / exact location / landmark)
  2. The type of emergency
  3. The number of people injured and the condition of the injured
  4. The caller's name and contact number – for location guidance if required
Emergency help dispatched through this process is expected to reach the site of the emergency in an average of 18 minutes (God safe traffic and horrible road conditions)

Pre-hospital care or ALS or Advance Life Support is expected to be given to patients being transported to the nearest hospital.  We all assume that the 108 ambulance is well equipped to handle a variety of emergency situations and comes with well trained and empathetic driver and paramedic.

The service is normally free to patients.

Your 6 key responsibilities
  1. You are a vital support person to the first-responder already attending to the victim, you may act as a vital support person and listen to his/her instructions.  Understand very clearly what kind of first aid from the Advanced Life Support (or ambulance) is required.  Sometimes AED (Automated External Defibrillator) equipment may be required and you may want to communicate that when you call the emergency room.  I don't know if 108 provides AED - this must be validated.
  2. Do not panic: Stay calm and move away from busy traffic or noisy area to ensure the emergency room operator can hear you clearly.
  3. Quickly gather knowledge to guide: assess the nature of the accident and the victims condition, the location of the accident (good idea about the geography and the access roads to give directions to the ambulance driver), what type of emergency situation and how many people are affected.  More than one ambulance may be required in some of the nasty accidents involving multiple people.  
  4. Communicate confidently and clearly: You play a very crucial role as a caller who will connect the emergency services team with the accident team in getting the best and quickest assistance during the Golden Hour period.
  5. Assist the first-responder after the call: Once the call is completed - you may assist the first-responder or control the crowd or even the traffic (you can shout and ask them to move away or give way to the ambulance arriving) or assist in handling the victim.
Finally, please circulate this, who knows you could save a precious life by knowing how this works


Reference:


Saturday, September 9, 2017

Airtel's excellent customer service don't worry (not sponsored)

Airtel India's excellent customer service!
It started when I was worried about not receiving SMS messages from a two-factor website authentication login page.
I called Airtel 121 and after struggling through the IVR navigation options finally, I got through to the option to talk to a customer service executive.
The IVR system prompted me with the message "this call may be recorded...." I was a bit more worried about the quality of my interactions with the customer service executive. I had decided to communicate well.
The conversation with the customer support executive went on something like this,
The Airtel guy listened to my complaint, put me on hold and came back after a minute and said,
Airtel: "Mr. Kannan, DON'T WORRY, I have taken a complaint and the issue will be resolved" with an emphasis on the 'DON'T WORRY'
Me: "I'm still not receiving messages and I'm obviously WORRIED about that, how can you ask me not to worry about this, why I'm not receiving those messages?"
Airtel: "Mr. Kannan, there is some technical issue and I've raised a complaint, DON'T WORRY about it"
Me: "C'mon, How can you ask me not to WORRY when the problem is still not resolved? I'll continue to WORRY until the time I start receiving the messages" I decided to be adamant about worrying about it
Airtel: "DON'T WORRY Mr. Kannan, your problem will be rectified in 24 hrs"
Me: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... not again! what is the real problem? has it anything to do with the DND service that I activated...." I was further worried if I did something wrong
at this time he promptly responded and said the DND services had nothing to do with the problem that I was facing.
Airtel: "You will get a confirmation within 3 working days...
Me: grrrrrrrrrrr..... "you just said 24 hrs...."
Airtel: "DON'T WORR....."
Me: I hurriedly and worriedly interrupted him off and said "Thank you so muchand I cut the call...
then started seriously WORRYING about how I managed to screw up my Sunday evening.
After few minutes, I finally received a text message from Airtel which said "...... our network team will work on the issue and update you within 4 days" further adding to my WORRIES
God Save Airtel India and its not yet so worried customers!
Am I just alone and special who received this fantastic treatment?
Are you not on Airtel? are you not WORRIED about it?

Don't worry! leave your comments ;)
Pic Credit: www.adityakannan.com
Pic Credit: www.adityakannan.com

I'm neither poor nor that entitled

The insightful report that I read today on how students background affects the performance made me think about my own life. "Wealthy...