An encounter with our first responders

         Last week, after visiting my parents, I was standing with my father in their driveway, ready to leave, when we heard someone screaming.  After determining that it sounded like it was coming from about a block away from my parents' home, we drove around to see if we could help.  A woman was standing in the middle of the street screaming.  I pulled over, rolled down the window and asked if she needed help.  She said she did, but was having a hard time communicating what was going on.  Eventually she said she was having a severe panic attack, but did not believe that she could get herself to the hospital.  I told her I would call for help and she agreed.  My dad got out of the car, moved her back to her own car, where she sat inside alternately screaming and crying, while my dad held her hand through the open window of her car.  I called 911.
          When the 911 operator answered the phone I explained that a woman appeared to be having a severe panic attack, that she was was freaking out and needed help.  The operator said that she was highway patrol, but that she would transfer my call to the appropriate person.  My call was transferred to another 911 operator.  I explained again what was happening.  This operator said she was the police and that they couldn't help, so she was transferring my call again.  The next time it went to the fire department 911 operator.  She, too, said she was the wrong one to help me, and she also transferred my call.  I didn't catch who the next person was, but it sounded like ambulance (do they have their own 911 people?  Not sure...).  At any rate, in frustration, I explained that she was the 4th in a line of folk and could she please help.  She, too, said I was talking to the wrong person but she stayed on the line this time while transferring me back to the police.  The two 911 operators spoke in code at this point, seemed to determine between them that it was in fact for the police to handle, and they both disconnected.  Okaaay….
       We waited another 10 minutes while the woman was still extremely upset.  The police car finally came and I signalled her over.  At that point I was talking to the woman in the car, had let my dad go to deal with the police officer while I tried to get the woman to just take some deep breaths.  She seemed to be calming down a bit.  As my father approached the police officer to explain to her what was going on, the officer snapped at him to get away from her, which he did, looking confused and trying to say that he wanted to give her some information.  She came over to the car and began barking at the woman to give her name, address, etc.  This freaked the woman out even more.  She began screaming again.  She also started rocking back and forth saying, "I don't want to be in trouble!  I need help getting to the hospital!"  I tried to calm her down but the police officer told me to back off while she dealt with it.  I asked the woman who was freaking out if she wanted me to stay.  She was screaming louder and louder and saying, "I just need help!" The police officer said to us, "I'm handling this now!" So my dad and I just backed off and eventually we left as the officer continued to yell at the woman and as the woman went farther and farther into "freak out" mode.
         I left feeling several things:
       1.  I am deeply aware that not all first responders are the same.  She does not represent everyone who would be called in and I would never say that she did.  I wish someone else had been the one to respond to the call because I have seen these things handled much better by other people.  None the less, this is what we had to deal with and I regret that, deeply, for the poor woman in crisis.  First responders are supposed to serve and protect us, all of us.  She did not serve this woman well.  She did not serve my father and I well.  Protect?  No, she was escalating the problem with her approach.
      2.  That being said, it is obvious to me that there needs to be some more serious training done with our first responders about how to handle people who are having mental break downs and mental crises.  I do not believe the woman was under any kind of chemical influence.  I think she was simply having a panic attack, which was not going to be helped through being yelled at.  She had been calming down while I was talking to her quietly and slowly and encouraging her to breathe. She had stopped screaming,  All that was reversed as soon as the officer started her barking.
     3.  Our 911 people need to gain some clarity about what to do in different crisis situations.  Being transfered four different times when calling for help?  Unacceptable.
     I believe that change starts with being aware of the problems and naming the problems.  I think accountability is a helpful thing as we can own what is good, what needs improvement, and what needs to change.  I am grateful that there is a 911 system at all, even though it clearly needs some work.  I don't believe we help ourselves by stereotyping or universalizing one person's experience, but I do believe that we can all learn from things that do not go well.  I am hoping that by putting this out there, a deeper awareness is gained, and perhaps more thought put into how to respond in these kinds of situations.
       I am aware that Richmond has been working hard to retrain their first responders to better handle mental health crises and that this effort has met with incredible success in lessening violence in the city of Richmond.  It sounds like cities such as Walnut Creek might also want to consider such training.  Just because the city is "posh" does not mean that they don't need training in these areas.  My prayer for today is for our first responders, and for all those with whom they interact.  Today, especially, I lift up that woman who we met last week.  I hope that she finally was able to get the help she needed, and that she is on the way to recovery.