If an ambulance leaves with no lights it's a bad sign? Yes?

[bonquiqui]

A fire truck and ambulance pulled up and eventually brought neighbor out on a stretcher. They were here about 30 minutes and eventually left with no sirens or lights :/. I feel terrible. Her and her caregiver used to go on walks and apparently she loved looking at my kitties in the window.

[CloudBee]

Not necessarily. Ambulances don't always feel the need to rush to the hospital. And sometimes depending on injury (broken hip, etc.) they would rather drive slowly/normal speed.

[bonquiqui]

Well I hope that is the case!

[Totally not sofamonkey]

Yeah, sometimes the noise of the siren creates more anxiety in the patient too, making things worse.  Not always a big deal.  Sorry though, that sucks. 

[verypunny]

I have a lot of older neighbors and see my fair share of ambulances. I've never seen them use the lights.

[bornbaker]

When my dad had his heart attack he was at my mom's Montessori school in the middle of the day while kids were there. We asked 911 to tell the ambulance drives not to arrive/leave with sirens and lights so the kids wouldn't be frightened and/or run to the window and see my dad being taken out on a stretch (some of the kid knew him well).

The paramedics were really good at not making themselves known to the kids - they left with my dad and we didn't even know, the kids never knew something happened!

[TC]

I was transported by ambulance as a child and there were no lights or sirens. You can be stable and still need to get your butt to the hospital.

[cbwm1]

After a car accident I was in, there were no lights and sirens. We weren't critically injured, so it wasn't necessary.

[anastasia517]

DH is trained as a paramedic. He says they will usually turn lights off at night when in residential neighbourhoods to prevent drawing attention to what is going on. I also believe there are certain situations that call for lights & sirens while others do not, depending on urgency. So basically, it could be something or it could be nothing (helpful, I know).

[CheshireGrin]

No lights and sirens is a good sign actually. Most departments have regulations now curtailing use of lights and siren when they're not necessary, particularly in residential areas. If the person were seriously ill/injured, then they would use the lights.

[macmars45]

I rode in an ambulance once. There was no siren needed as I was stable & in no immediate danger. It could be a similar situation for your neighbor. I hope so.

[anastasia517]

I thought of a couple more things to add.

1) If the paramedics were transporting the person and not doing CPR the person would be living and stable enough to not need it. That fits with the lack of lights and sirens as well.

2) I'm almost positive that once they start CPR, they must continue it to the hospital. So if it was something like a heart attack and the person's heart stopped they would still be receiving CPR when wheeled out.

[stephlove]

I had to beg the paramedics to turn on the lights and sirens when I was a kid and had to ride in am ambulance. I was stable, so it wasn't necessary, but they turned them on for a minute to make me happy.

[sewpinkgal]

I have been transported in an ambulance w/o lights/sirens and that was after a nasty fall on my head. I was bleeding, but stable and coherent. They said they would kick on the sirens if something took a turn for the worse, but otherwise, they would go to the hospital without them.

[anastasia517]

Aug 2, 2014 22:56:48 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

When I got an ambulance ride in May and was complaining that they wouldn't turn the lights on, my EMT friend said they only do it for certain medical codes for life in danger.

Yeah.  They aren't even allowed to speed in a lot of cases.  Since that data is transmitted to base, they can get in trouble if they are speeding when they aren't dealing with one of the worse classifications of calls.

[Deleted]

Studies show that the lights and sirens trigger excitement/adrenaline rush in the driver and there are actually many more accidents involving an ambulance when the lights and sirens are used. They are generally only used when absolutely necessary.