Cell Phone Samaritans

Since just about everyone carries a cell phone these days, it's not uncommon to get sent to a "car off the road, no further information available." People driving by see something and call it in. I guess that's really a good thing, cause there could be someone in real trouble and unable to summon help. Unfortunately, what often happens is several people make the call, and (especially if it's snowing hard) there are different descriptions of what they see. This results in the dispatch center thinking there is more than one incident and dispatching multiple ambulances and fire trucks to what in reality is a single event. I don't know if there's a solution to this. Just awhile ago, we were sent to a car off the road about 5 miles from quarters. The location was a dirt road, and with the weather in the past few days, the dirt roads are a mess. We got a little more than halfway there when a first responder on the scene called in to advise that it was just someone who had gotten stuck in a ditch...no real MVA and no injuries. That's good, but it is frustrating to have the ambulance and heavy rescue and fire responding to nothing. That's the nature of EMS though. You have to treat every call as if it is a serious situation. So, back in quarters just achillin.

Posted: 18h56, March 3, 2007