I ride the bus to work everyday. Normally, it is very uneventful and uninteresting and I sleep through the whole thing. Things went a little differently today.
The first thing that happened that was out of the ordinary was that the bus driver decided to stop at a gas station to get a coffee and use the restroom. Maybe I'm off base, but I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to leave the bus unless it's some kind of emergency.
Anyway, she finally gets back and about 20 seconds later, the guy behind me falls over and starts having a seizure. I've seen seizures before, and this was one of the worst I've witnessed. He shook for close to 3 minutes. As soon as he hit the floor, I knew what was going on. I yelled at the bus driver to call 911 and tried to keep the guy from banging his head or arms on the metal seats. The driver got on the her radio to the dispatch. I'm sure that's standard operating procedure in an emergency, but I didn't want to wait for her to explain the situation to multiple people, so I called 911 myself.
The dispatcher that answered put me on hold and transferred me to the medical dispatcher. Up until that moment, I hadn't realized that dispatching was so complex that they need different operators for police, fire, and paramedical, but I digress.
The I told the medical dispatcher we were on a city bus in front of a gas station. I gave her the cross streets. She asked me for the address. I calmly screamed at her that I didn't have the address, but I was at major intersection in front of a very visible landmark, inside of a large bus parked on the side of a very busy street. (Yeah, she parked on the side of a major road, jamming up rush hour traffic so she could get a coffee. But I digress.)The bus driver asked if I was doing OK and said that she might be better trained to handle the situation since she was a nurse. However, she hadn't actually impressed me with her competency and since nursing jobs are very plentiful and she's
In a surprising show of sudden helpfulness, the dispatcher helped me get the victim in the recovery position. By this time, he had stopped convulsing and was now foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes to the back of his head.
The ambulance showed up and I got out of their way. Once they left with the seizure guy, the bus driver seemed like she felt obligated to tell me that she HAD been way ahead of schedule and hadn't had time at any point in the morning up until then to stop and get a coffee.
Luckily, there was a later bus that I could transfer to and still get to work on time.
Disclaimer: I've been riding the bus for over a year without any problems, so I do not think this driver's actions is indicative of drivers in general. I also have had several very positive interactions with emergency dispatchers, which is why this special needs one caught me off guard.
The first thing that happened that was out of the ordinary was that the bus driver decided to stop at a gas station to get a coffee and use the restroom. Maybe I'm off base, but I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to leave the bus unless it's some kind of emergency.
Anyway, she finally gets back and about 20 seconds later, the guy behind me falls over and starts having a seizure. I've seen seizures before, and this was one of the worst I've witnessed. He shook for close to 3 minutes. As soon as he hit the floor, I knew what was going on. I yelled at the bus driver to call 911 and tried to keep the guy from banging his head or arms on the metal seats. The driver got on the her radio to the dispatch. I'm sure that's standard operating procedure in an emergency, but I didn't want to wait for her to explain the situation to multiple people, so I called 911 myself.
The dispatcher that answered put me on hold and transferred me to the medical dispatcher. Up until that moment, I hadn't realized that dispatching was so complex that they need different operators for police, fire, and paramedical, but I digress.
The I told the medical dispatcher we were on a city bus in front of a gas station. I gave her the cross streets. She asked me for the address. I calmly screamed at her that I didn't have the address, but I was at major intersection in front of a very visible landmark, inside of a large bus parked on the side of a very busy street. (Yeah, she parked on the side of a major road, jamming up rush hour traffic so she could get a coffee. But I digress.)The bus driver asked if I was doing OK and said that she might be better trained to handle the situation since she was a nurse. However, she hadn't actually impressed me with her competency and since nursing jobs are very plentiful and she's
In a surprising show of sudden helpfulness, the dispatcher helped me get the victim in the recovery position. By this time, he had stopped convulsing and was now foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes to the back of his head.
The ambulance showed up and I got out of their way. Once they left with the seizure guy, the bus driver seemed like she felt obligated to tell me that she HAD been way ahead of schedule and hadn't had time at any point in the morning up until then to stop and get a coffee.
Luckily, there was a later bus that I could transfer to and still get to work on time.
Disclaimer: I've been riding the bus for over a year without any problems, so I do not think this driver's actions is indicative of drivers in general. I also have had several very positive interactions with emergency dispatchers, which is why this special needs one caught me off guard.