Difficult Seasons

If you’re a caregiver, chances are you get this phone call from time to time. 

I did yesterday, in fact. Turned out we didn’t need to make the trip.  But there have been plenty of times we have, so you can know that I’m speaking from experience.

So here are Five Helpful Points to remember when responding to the call.

1.  The person making the call is probably scared.  Likely, they’ve been weighing what to do about whatever it is that’s bothering them for a while, and they are pretty worked up about it.

2.  You need some information.  “What’s going on?” You need to be able to make a quick judgment about whether this is something life threatening that requires more help, or whether it’s something that you can handle when you get there.

3.  We generally exaggerate when describing symptoms.  Our long time pediatrician’s rule of thumb was to divide by two for a mom, by three for a grandparent when a cut was being described over the phone.  The person making the call may be exaggerating, or maybe they’re not.

4.  As soon as you get some information, you need to go.  Your presence will be calming, and you’ll both be able to make a better decision on what needs to be done once you’re there.

5.  In case of a true emergency, 911 is a better option than trying to drive to an ER.  Make the call.

So how do these fit with your experience?  Anything you’d add?

Tags: ER, family emergencies

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 4:45 am and is filed under Caregiving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.