Why call an electrician when you need a plumber?

This was my initial reaction today after seeing a news story today. The story was about a guy running in the hills, got ill, and on how is family means that slow response from the police killed him.

This got me thinking, shouldn’t people take some responsibility of their actions ? Why did one of his friends call his mother who called 1-1-2 ?

Would this entire story had a different ending if they had done things a bit differently?
First as the heading says, why call an electrician if you need a plumber. If they had called 1-1-3 directly they would have had a dispatcher that was a health professional. And if they held on to the line the emergency services would have a better understanding of the situation.

Of course the police might have done things differently to. It was said that they waited quite a while before asking for assistance from the red cross. I’m always baffled that they keep calling for the red cross people when they have civilian defence forces groups that are trained for and suppose to do these kind of tasks.

All in all it boils down to this:

1. Call the correct emergency number. In Norway that would be:

   • 1-1-0 : Fire Brigade
   • 1-1-2 : Police*
   • 1-1-3 : Medical emergencies

2. Remember to state who you are, what has happened, where you are
3. Do NOT hang up unless you are told so by the dispatcher.

* This is the international emergency number and will get you help in all emergencies. But whenever possible calling for what you actually need would help remove any errors in communications.