We had a medical emergency in the middle of the night recently. It hasn’t happened before and we were a little unsure of what to do. When it became obvious we couldn’t handle the problem alone we decided to call an ambulance.
We were very impressed with the response from the man who answered our call to Emergenza Sanitaria at 118. I gave him my surname and he immediately came back with my christian name, address and telephone number. He told me an ambulance would arrive soon to take the patient to the hospital.
What happened next was a farce. We may be able to laugh about it in the future but at 4.00am in a difficult situation it was not amusing. The ambulance went to the wrong bridge – there is only one Ponte a Serraglio – but they managed to be in the wrong village. The voice on the phone asked why I could not see the ambulance on the bridge. I replied that there was no ambulance on the bridge. The voice assured me that they were on the bridge. I repeated the address several times and included descriptions of nearby businesses. The voice kept insisting that I should be able to see them. Two words came to mind – headless chooks. I have no idea why they didn’t check with the person who gave them directions in the first place. He may have known where they were. I certainly didn’t.
The ambulance finally arrived and the 3 attendants were excellent. They transported the patient down the steps and into the ambulance in a very short time and soon the patient was enroute to Lucca hospital. In the ambulance they took his temperature and blood pressure and once at the hospital he was admitted in record time.
The staff at the hospital were very efficient, if a little abrupt. The doctor, in the end turned out to be very caring and kind, and it was perhaps our scant knowledge of Italian medical terms and her reticence to speak what she considered to be her bad English which made her seem abrupt. She diagnosed the problem promptly, the correct medication was administered and our patient was soon on the mend.
It would pay to have a plan of action in cases like this. I have intended to put emergancy numbers by the phone, but of course hadn’t done it. I will now.