The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) has released information on what members of the public can expect when calling triple zero for someone who was suffering a stroke.
ESTA said the first step in getting help was recognising the signs of stroke and calling triple zero.
“According to the National Stroke Foundation, one in four people globally will have a stroke in their lifetime,” the Authority said.
“The first question we will ask is ‘where do you need the ambulance?’ followed by ‘okay, tell me exactly what’s happened’,” it said.
“As soon as the call-taker knows where you need help and what the emergency is, help will be organised.”
ESTA said the call-taker would continue to ask questions of the caller to establish what help was required.
“This won’t delay an emergency response but will allow us to pass the information on to the responders to get the right help to you,” it said.
“The call-taker will then go through a stroke diagnostic tool, which is a set of questions designed to find out exactly what help is required.”
It said a question in the stroke diagnostic tool was to ask the patient to smile, to establish whether there was any facial droop.
“Another question is to ask the patient to raise two arms above their head, looking to see if both arms are raised equally,” ESTA said.
“This is to establish if there is any weakness or paralysis on any side of the body.”
The Authority said the final question was to test for any speech problems by asking the patient to repeat “the early bird catches the worm”.
Further information on how to recognise the signs of a stroke can be accessed on the National Stroke Foundation website at this PS News link.
