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911 Is A Team Sport

In basketball, five good players working together in harmony can beat five great players working as individuals. That’s the nature of the game – it’s a team sport. So are 911 calls. Let’s consider one 911 call and the people it involves.

In The Spotlight

A citizen is strolling down the street and hears a tremendous crash. She turns around to see a car with its front end creased by a telephone pole. The driver appears to be unconscious, slumped over the steering wheel. Even worse, smoke and steam are starting to pour out from under the hood. The citizen is calm enough to call 911 and describe the event and the location. Within moments, sirens can be heard all over town.

The first police car arrives in a minute, and several more are there within a few minutes.  Together the officers secure the road and offer any immediate first aid that the driver might need. The Fire Chief is next on scene, in his big white truck with the flashing red lights.  He establishes Incident Command and keeps his crews coming: a fire truck to battle any blaze that might erupt, an ambulance to treat the victim, and a rescue truck in case it is needed to extricate the victim from the crumpled automobile. The Chief keeps a careful eye on the engine compartment, weighing the risk of fire against the risk of quickly moving the unconscious driver out of the car. Fortunately, the smoke is decreasing, and the Chief determines that it is safe to wait.

When the fire truck arrives, the Chief positions it and its Captain directs the crew as they spray water over the car’s engine. The ambulance arrives shortly, and the Police Officer gives the EMTs a brief report about the patient’s condition. They struggle to get the door open, but it was damaged in the collision. Fortunately, the rescue truck rolls up shortly and the Jaws of Life motivate the door to jump open. At that point the EMTs and fire fighters work together to load the patient onto a long board, and then onto a cot, and then move the patient into the back of the ambulance. It goes so smoothly that a bystander might wonder whether they had rehearsed this whole routine before (and in fact, this scene was pretty similar to the drill they had the previous Thursday evening).

The patient is still unconscious when the Paramedics from Morristown Memorial Hospital enter the ambulance. They start performing skills beyond the training of the EMTs: they read an electrocardiogram to monitor the patient’s heart and start an intravenous line to give him medications, assisted by the EMTs on board. The ambulance then rolls towards the hospital, where they will transfer patient care to the emergency room staff.

Behind the Scenes

The average bystander on the street would have been pretty impressed by how the team worked so smoothly together: four Police Officers, one Fire Chief, a fire truck (with a Captain and three fire fighters), an ambulance (with an EMS Lieutenant and two EMTs), a rescue truck (with a Captain and two fire fighters) and a truck with two paramedics all worked together to aid the driver of the car.  Seventeen people worked in a crowded and dangerous area, with each person accomplishing a critical piece of the big job at hand.  Thirty-four hands worked as though controlled by one mind.

But had a professional trained in emergency services witnessed the scene, he would have had a very different response: these folks worked really hard to work so well together.  Many of the Police Officers are also trained as EMTs.  Many of the fire fighters and EMTs are crossed trained to do the others’ job.  One of the Paramedics responding that day began his career in EMS as a volunteer EMT on the squad, and he still volunteers here.  The group knows each other well, and they practice together frequently on both real calls and in drills.  Teamwork makes the difference.

Many members of the team were not present at the scene that day. The dispatchers at Police Headquarters took the original 911 call, sent the messages out to the responders, and called in the Paramedics.  (And in the middle of all this accident, they were also handling a burglar alarm on the other side of town.) Fire Companies and First Aid Squads in neighboring communities (especially Liberty Corner) were prepared to come to our “mutual aid” if we needed them, just as we help them when they need it. The fire trucks and ambulances were all stocked with gear inspected by volunteers at work nights. The trucks got there because those same volunteers check the tire pressures and the oil levels and half a dozen other issues of the truck every Monday night. When they find a problem, the experts at the town garage repair and inspect the trucks. Some of the older members of the Company no longer respond to calls, but they still help out in organizing training, and in making sure that the young folks don’t forget what it was like back in the day.

The Invisible Members

One of the most important members of our team has played an important role in this story, but has so far gone unmentioned: you, the people of Basking Ridge. You were the people who witnessed the event and called 911. You were the people who pulled over and stopped as the Police sped to the scene and as the EMTs and fire fighters drove to the station with their blue lights flashing. You pulled over and stopped again when the fire trucks and ambulance drove to the scene of the accident. You obeyed the Police at the scene as they directed traffic down a back street at the accident, and didn’t stop to “rubberneck”.

And you are part of our team in many other ways: You encourage your family members to wear seatbelts and check the batteries in smoke detectors. You bring your kids by our booth at Charter Day, and you teach them to respect police and fire fighters. All of this makes you members of our team, and we thank you for all that you do to help us.

Our team always needs more members. We have a particular need for fire fighters and EMTs; for more information on volunteering, see [ Joining the Company ]. And if you don’t have time to join the team in that way, please contribute your financial support at [ Donate Here ].

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