Law Dispatcher

It’s another one of those dreaded call types.  No operator enjoys taking drowning calls.  It’s a gut wrenching call type even without knowing the details.  The biggest question that passes through the operators mind…Are they still alive…can they make it?  If you live in an area that has a lot of swimming pools or water bodies, these types of calls come in more frequently.  Here’s how you can help.  Of course, know your location.    Even if it’s a body of water that has no address.  Know the nearest cross streets.  If you know the name of the body of water, that helps.  As an operator, I do not feel comfortable telling the caller to jump in and try to save the person, especially if it’s in a natural body of water such as a lake, river, stream, or etc.  If it’s a swimming pool, and the caller is a good swimmer, go for it.  Try your best to rescue that person if at all possible.  911 operators are willing to give you instructions on CPR if you’re willing to perform it.  By the way…most of the newer CPR instructions have done away with the mouth-to-mouth breathing part.  Studies have found that most people were not willing to give mouth-to-mouth, and it isn’t necessary provided that the person down has not been too long without oxygen.  The most important part of CPR is the chest compressions.  Right now, (and this is going to change in the near future) we are asking callers to perform 600 chest compressions per minute.  Yep, that means pump that chest hard and fast…as fast as you can go.  Keep doing it until EMS arrives on scene.  You will be exhausted by the time they get there, but you will have had the satisfaction of knowing that you did all you could do.

Please know that when you call 911 for a drowning, it is a law and EMS response.

Way too many drownings are little kids that fall into pools, buckets of water, or wander off into a ditch.  Just be aware of the situation when little ones are present.  Watch them  like a hawk every minute.  Nothing is as heart-wrenching as the drowning of a child both for the operator and the parent.   I recall as a young child myself sitting in a wading pool where a baby who was barely able to sit up was placed in front of me.  A wave produced by some other kids at the other end of the pool knocked the baby over, and she was laying on the pool bottom gurgling water.  I looked at the baby and then at the mother who was busily chatting away to a friend next to her and never once looked up to check on the baby.  After some time and trying to get the mother’s attention, I couldn’t help myself but quickly pulled that baby up, turn her over and slapped her on the back.  Of course, water spewed out, and she was fine, but my utter disgust for the mother still remains with me to this day.  I still recall my exact words to that mother:  “I think you better watch your baby.”  Of course, she was all concerned over her baby and what had just happened, but I don’t think she ever got the point that her daughter nearly drowned because she failed to pay attention to her.

Drownings are common unfortuantely.  Don’t hesitate to call 911 for such incidents.