911 - 108

Yesterday night was an unforgettable night for me. Around 12 midnight my son woke up crying. He normally does that when I am just sinking into sleep. Thinking it was his usual histrionics my wife took him up and began soothing him. What followed next was terrifying. He started gasping , shuddering and held his neck at an unnatural angle. His eyes went wide and he stared unseeingly at us without breathing. I tried to soothe him and my wife tried and we were at our wits end and something pushed me to call 911. The person who attended the call took all the details regarding the condition and just my apartment number and within 3 minutes a cop with emergency kit was in my doorstep and in another 5 minutes the ambulance crew was there.

Thankfully he was well by the time and was starting to look at them like aliens. They had a look at him and wanted to know if we needed to be taken the hospital. When we assured them it was okay they left after giving some medical advice. The police man was the last to leave after ensuring everything was fine.

Three things struck my mind after this episode

1. We are in a foreign country alone with nobody to guide us. The only guidance we have is the Grace of God and the prayers of others. I do not have a clue as to what I would have done if my son did not become normal. I still shudder to recollect the same.

2. The second thing is 911. The thing that amazed me was the speed of response and the way in which they responded. When a few minutes can make a difference between life and death 911 is a lifesaving process by providing emergency services in that precious few minutes. I have begun reading about 911 and its history in the US and I plan to put it in a separate post.

3. Whenever such a thing happens my wife would begin to insist on returning to India and I pointed out her with smugness that such a service is not there in India. Most cases we tend to have a biased attitude when comparing US and India.Each country is unique in its own way. However returning to the main issue I had to eat my words when I came to know we have a similar service 108 in India. Its not available in all the places.However its a start. It has been pioneered in India by GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute) and it has a current fleet of 1900 ambulances across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Chennai, Rajasthan,Karnataka, Assam Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh. When you call 108 it would be received by a state of the art call center and they handle Health emergencies, Crime and Fire.
Considering the population factor 108 has some way to go. However its a sterling initiative and we should be proud and supportive of such efforts. Believe me I know the terror of the ordeal when no help is available during your darkest hour.

I have given the EMRI website details below

http://www.emri.in/content/view/24/59/