Make The Right Call
FACTSHEETS
Bilingual Audiences Make the Right Call to EMS
- Call Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first if someone is seriously hurt in an accident or becomes very sick. You may call relatives and friends later.
- Stay on the phone. Speak slowly - remember the EMS call takers/dispatchers are specially trained to help you. Answer their questions. Do not hang up until you have answered all the call takers/dispatchers questions.
- Know how to say your address in English. It is the most important piece of information needed by EMS.
- Keep your address and phone number written down on paper near your phone.
- Include 911 or the local emergency number in the list of numbers you can dial automatically, if your phone has an automatic dialing feature.
- Keep a list of doctors, your pharmacy, and people to be contacted in case of emergency close to the phone.
- Keep a list of doctors, your pharmacy, and people to be contacted in case of emergency close to the phone.
- Keep a list of medications you take in your purse or wallet. In case you're taken to the hospital, try to be sure the purse or wallet goes with you.
- Find out in advance if organizations exist in your city which provide foreign language translation services, e.g., American Red Cross and service clubs. Organizations like this assist you in how to communicate with an EMS call taker/dispatcher during an emergency call.
- Know the location of the nearest public telephone if you do not have a telephone. Pay telephones permit dialing 9-1-1 or "0" calls for free. Also know the location of the nearest neighbor with a phone, emergency call box, fire or police station.
- Know that your safety will improve as you learn to speak English and are able to report an emergency in English.
- Ask your local EMS service to give a presentation in your neighborhood, at a church, club, school, or apartment building.
- Be sure to call EMS professionals in a medical emergency; they are not police.
Last Updated: June 23, 2004 12:54 PM
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