Regardless of the nature of your emergency, keeping calm is immensely critical to control the situation from escalating.
Panicking not only leads to wastage of time but could endanger someone’s survival as well.
Did you ever present to an audience of more than 50 people, whether in a class or a business meeting? Do you recall that feeling of anxiety that suddenly accelerates your heart rate, making you jittery?
It blocks your ability to think or function rationally and adequately. Your heart begins pounding, your face appears flushed, and you face difficulty breathing.
Something similar happens when you’re in an emergency. The only difference is that not responding appropriately to a crisis can have life endangering consequences.
What to Do When You are Encountering an Emergency?
When encountering an emergency, our body responds with an automatic fight or flight response.
It means you either want to flee the scene or stay there and do something about it.
This response is triggered by the overproduction of cortisol hormone in our bodies.
The same can make it significantly difficult for us to remain calm and think.
Fight and flight response is our body’s way of perceiving an alarming situation and take measures to ensure survival.
It is almost impossible to escape this occurrence, and emotional stability plays a tremendous role in managing this urge.
Furthermore, this notion explains why paramedics are mastering emotional intelligence skills since they witness crippling situations almost regularly.
They have to manage their emotions, set aside any distracting thoughts, and focus solely on the problem at hand.
Most EMS professionals opt for BLS recertification for this reason so they can work on various skills and remain updated with the latest information.
It allows them to enhance their emotional stability and work on their EQ alongside learning other essential techniques, methods, procedures, etc.
Please continue reading to know how you can keep your head in an emergency and handle it without being a threat to anyone.
4 Steps How to Respond to an Emergency:
1. Call for help.
The first step to handling an emergency is to seek assistance.
Ensure that you have your local emergency hotline on speed dial.
You may also directly contact the nearest healthcare center to have them send their EMS professionals immediately.
2. Analyze the situation.
Once you’ve called for help, you’ll have some time on your hands to do the needful.
If you just witnessed a car accident, before you help the victims, ensure that the car isn’t going to blow up while you’re near it.
If there’s a fire, don’t try to jump right into it to save others.
Analyze the situation and protect yourself first before you try to help others.
Seek the assistance of other people and pull the victims out of danger.
3. Provide emergency care.
Emergency professionals aren’t wizards who can use their flying broomsticks to make their way onto the incident scene.
They use the same roads and have to go through the same traffic to reach.
Therefore, they might get late.
However, even a minute of delay can cause someone their life if they’re injured or unconscious.
It’s up to you to provide basic first aid while they’re on their way.
If the victim is bleeding, stop it at any cost by applying pressure or tying the particular area with a belt or a shirt.
You may also need to perform CPR if the victim isn’t breathing.
4. Crisp and clear communication.
When the emergency management team reaches the scene, tell them what happened and how the incident occurred.
Tell the paramedics how you found the victim, what steps you took to preserve life, and anything related to the incident.
This detailed explanation can play a critical role in the provision of treatment and care. Even minor miscommunication can result in a delayed diagnosis.
4 Ways to Stay Calm During A Medical Emergency:
1. Take deep breaths.
As mentioned earlier, your body responds in a jittery and nervous way to such situations.
You can’t help other people if you don’t take control of your stress levels first.
Deep breathing can help you shake off the anxiety.
Inhale a deep breath of air, slowly count till three, and release.
Doing this twice or thrice will help you calm down instantly.
2. Practice mindfulness.
Your inability to take your surroundings into notice will only incline you to opt for the flight option.
Acknowledging that you’re in an emergency will help you tackle it more appropriately.
So, remind yourself that it’s the fight or flight response that’s making you feel this way.
3. Visualize safe place.
If deep breathing doesn’t help, visualize a safe place in your mind.
This place can be any soothing scenario or a region that brings you peace and calmness.
Ultimately, the goal is to relax and avoid panicking at all costs.
4. Repeat a mantra.
Repeating phrases like “it will all be over soon,” “everything is going to be fine,” “keep your head,” and “breathe,” etc., can help you.
They can take your mind away from the current situation and shift your focus on the words coming out of your mouth.
Your brain will fixate all its attention on the repetitive commands and try to follow them.
In no time, you’ll begin to feel calmer and have more control over the situation.
Tell yourself some affirmations that you need to hear to calm down so you can proceed with providing care.
What You Should Remember?
Emergencies can be mind boggling.
At times, you might need to call emergency services for yourself if you undergo a panic attack.
However, the stress can be controlled using various precise and straightforward techniques.
Moreover, before you do anything else, ensure to call emergency services to arrive on the scene quickly.
Meanwhile, you can assess the current situation and provide care to the victim.
If they’re unconscious, evaluate their pulse and breathing and provide CPR if necessary.
If they’re bleeding, do anything to stop it.
If they’re up and conscious, try to calm them down by engaging in a distracting conversation.
Let them know that you’ve called for help and that it’ll be here soon.
