Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Scene safety

A young caller, "they are fighting outside, hurry" click.
We wonder why we are called for a fight that isn't over yet.
We have dispatch call the Band Constables because they have a quicker response time than the RCMP.
We arrive on site before the Constables to find some children outside crying. One of the little girls comes to us and says that we are not needed. The adults are in the house but all is OK.
Ah! A domestic call. I go to the house, poke my head in and confirm its a domestic dispute while my partner rounds up the kids. The inside of the house shows signs of a pretty good fight, I step on some porcelain and kick a piece of tea pot.The adults say that all is OK and that we are not needed.
Still no cops.
The little girl is afraid because she was warned by her mother not to call the cops.
Was this her then that called the ambulance?
We load the children in the ambulance, all minors, each a separate offence in itself and leave the scene. Still no cops. We head straight to family services and drop the kids off.
We are horrified to find that we have left some children behind in the house.
Paramedic rule number one. Scene safety first, wait for police.
We struggle with this all the time.
The next similar call will I enter the house to check for more kids?
If you are a licensing body reading this, my answer is of course no, I will park a block down the road and wait for police.
Final outcome, all children are safe.

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