this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2025

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101

What was it like the first time you had to call 911? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by Dalacos@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

68 comments fedilink hide all child comments

911 is the emergency number here in Canada if you're unfamiliar. 112, 999, etc if you're elsewhere IIRC.

Do you remember the first time you had to use it?

What were you thinking, feeling?

First time I had to use it in earnest I was working front end at a post office and there was a random guy doing maintenance behind me in the back area of the office. Barely said a word to him, he barely said a word to me. I was fairly busy and he seemed kinda gruff.

Bit later all of a sudden he taps me on the shoulder pretty aggressively, I turned and was getting ready to give him some not-polite words about touching me like that and how he better not damn well do that again but I stopped when I saw the look on his face.

He just says, "call 911."

I look blankly at him, getting some mental whiplash, and just dumbly go, "what?"

Him, "I'm having a fucking heart-attack, CALL 911!"

That got through so I called them, gave them the info. He went back into the office and laid down.

I was a bit in shock myself and just looked at the customers in line in front of me and said to the woman, "he's having a heart attack, sorry."

Honestly think I could've handled the situation better, at least gone back and been more empathetic but I was caught between him, customers, and making sure I was visible so I could wave the paramedics to where they needed to go.

The post office there was tucked into the back corner and most of the store didn't even know about it until I told them later that day.

Never heard anything after, no clue if the guy survived, or not. Didn't see him again either way.

You?

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[–] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

Got to my late 30's before needing to call. This was about 6 years ago. My mother in law was staying with us because her husband passed 3 months prior. She found out later that month she had pancreatic cancer. So my wifes family cleaned out their house and got things in order. She moved in with us maybe a month prior. My wifes sister was with me visiting to see her and my wife left like 30 min to take care of stuff. It was my sister's daughter and my kid who was 3 or 4 at the time. It started out She said she was having trouble breathing and sat on our stairs as her sister tried to get her to calm down since at this point we didnt think much of it. Within a few more minutes she started to panic and so did the sister. The sister started screaming and I called 911. By the time they got here we had already saw her slip out of consciousness while continuing to say i can breath I dont want to die. Paramedics tried for 30 min or so and took her to the hospital were she was pronounced dead. It was a massive heart attack and everyone says there really wasn't much we could have done. That was a bad year, but then we got covid the next year so it just keeps getting better...