Helping emergency responders help you

[Odin Bravo One]

To play Devil's Advocate, me being the Devil, those are risks I am willing to accept, along with many others. If I wasn't, then I would have a different approach and philosophy.

[peterb]

I wonder when gps units will be standard equipment for emergency responders, or are they now and they are not accurate enough?

Our regional ambulance service uses them, with mixed results. The big issue seems to be the quality of the map data in more rural areas, or perhaps it's the less formal approach to house numbering. I've had the GPS say "arriving at ....." when there wasn't a house or driveway in sight.

The other issue is that the GPS doesn't incorporate local wisdom. It doesn't know about dirt or part-dirt roads in mud season, or frost heaves, or the steep hill that always gets icy. We've seen some routings that were not very efficient.

It's a good tool, but not a perfect one.

[peterb]

I've had to have dispatch call back the complainant because the "third blue trailer on the right after the big oak near the front sign" .... didn't help one bit.

True. But one of the thing I like about driving to a call with a native is that you get directions like "It's Jenny Benoit's old place, just after the corner where the Smith's barn used to be", and then you get a short history lesson.

[peterb]

It's easy........and I prefer it. USPS and UPS manage to find the mailbox, it's good enough for me. When I get my dream of moving back to rural America, it will be as close to impossible as I can make it to find my house.

I understand that desire.

You did get me thinking about ways to mark a road/driveway that would be visible only when commanded. Could be something like a lithium-battery-powered LED strobe tucked in a tree, focused on the road, with a wireless link back to the house.....

[bdcheung]

I live under the autocratic rule of my HOA, whose apparent mission in life is to make EVERYONE'S life as difficult as possible. Including emergency responders.

[JeffJ]

True. But one of the thing I like about driving to a call with a native is that you get directions like "It's Jenny Benoit's old place, just after the corner where the Smith's barn used to be", and then you get a short history lesson.

I was once given directions (while delivering pizza - not quite the same urgency) to turn 1/2 mile before the lot where the Texaco used to be. I think his pizza got cold.

[MechEng]

I drive to unknown locations using GPS every day, and I can tell you right now that 'in the vicinity' isn't always 'at the place you want to be.'

This.
According to 99% of the GPS devices out there, my house is 500 yards down the road and around the corner. Every time a pizza or Chinese food delivery guy tries to find my house I have to guide him in over the phone. Me as I watch out the window “…yes your GPS is wrong…I just saw you drive by my house, turn around…you just drove by it again, look for the numbers on my mail box…you just drove by it again, look for the silver pick-up truck directly in front of my house…by “directly” I mean STRAIGHT in front of my house…”
The address data bases that most GPS devices draw their locations from aren’t very accurate. They get you in the ball park but then you need to know WHAT a baseball diamond looks like before you can find home plate.

[jlw]

Speaking as a rural volunteer firefighter/EMT....

One of the easiest things you can do to help your family in an emergency is to have a house number that's easy to read from the street. It's frustrating for everyone involved when we're delayed because we can't find the address. Those tasteful bronze numbers on driftwood, the wrought-iron script, the kid-painted mailbox---they're all damn near invisible from the driver's seat at 2AM.

It's simple: if you can't easily read your house number from the road at night, you should do something better.

What we like are big(3" minimum) reflective numbers, as close to the road as possible, facing both directions. It's even better if you add a set next to the garage door so that when we pull into the driveway we know we've got the right house.

Also: Turning on all the lights is a big help if the call is at night. And have someone stay on the phone with the 911 dispatcher if you can -- they can relay information to the folks who are responding while they are talking to you.

Thanks!

I wonder when gps units will be standard equipment for emergency responders, or are they now and they are not accurate enough?

I respond to calls as both a peace officer and medical first responder. GPS will usually get you close, but they are by no means reliable to any certainty. I can take you many places in my area that GPS says don't exist, but they do, or where the GPS directions and the actual location don't match. My road book and house number signs is much more reliable.

[NickA]

You did get me thinking about ways to mark a road/driveway that would be visible only when commanded. Could be something like a lithium-battery-powered LED strobe tucked in a tree, focused on the road, with a wireless link back to the house.....

There are light switches with a special button that will make your porch light /outside light flash on and off continuously or flash SOS in Morse code. They wire in just like a normal switch.


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[ghettomedic]

As much as I appreciate a well-lit house and easily-visible address (and don't get me wrong, I do), if you REALLY want to help emergency responders help you then take one sheet of paper and type out your:

- Full Name
- DOB
- Address
- Phone
- Medical History
- Surgical History (Preceding 5 years)
- Medications (including OTC) taken on a daily or as-needed basis
- Allergies to medications
- Emergency Contact #
- Primary Care Physician's Name
- Hospital Preference

Then laminate that sucker and put it in the door of the refrigerator. Update the list 2x a year (when we change clocks for Daylight Savings Time is a good reminder; change your smoke alarm batteries too!). I'd rather find the fridge (easy enough in most residences) and READ everything useful to me than to have your spouse/child/friend/lover/neighbor try to explain to me that you, "Take a pill for the sugars and one for high blood and a water pill and I had thought back in da day she had been had a skeezer..." I swear the best ten words a patient can say to you in EMS are, "Here, I've got them all on a list for you."

Also: Spend 5 minutes thinking about how you would get out of your house in a fire. Establish a meeting place for your family and tell them where that meeting place is. Have a working fire extinguisher in your house and know how to use it. Put a smoke detector on every floor and in every bedroom. Practice exit drills with young children.