First of all, Jenn, I'm very sorry about your father's passing.
The scheduler gave your family the correct instruction to wait for the ambulance car to arrive.
There is something called the "rescue chain", which begins with first aiders (standers by) who are expected to take first action, then hand over to paramedics upon their arrival, who in turn provide professional emergency care and transport the patient - once stable - to a hospital, again handing over the patient to an ER/stationary care.
Instead of "just waiting", next of kin are normally advised to start resuscitation procedures according to the algorithm recommended by the Red Cross or CHA
All kind of bad things can happen when transporting a critically ill person in a private car, notably accidents caused by a shaking, stressed and overwhelmed driver (e.g. a relative) ignoring traffic lights actual traffic and sometimes buildings. Ambulances have medication onboard as well as qualified staff, and they are only supposed to live once a patient is deemed stable.
In case an ambulance is very far away, the scheduler can also be asked to send a volunteer semi-professional or professional aider e.g. a medic living in the neighborhood or a Red Cross paramedic volunteer, to walk over and bridge the time.
Once, one of my co-workers died in the office (in Switzerland), which was right next to a hospital, despite two dedicated colleagues calling for help and administering CPR/first aid (I was at home in the shower when it happened).
It can happen that all cars are somewhere else, or all emergency medical staff is already dealing with emergencies.
In this case, the ambulance arrived after more than 40 minutes, which triggered a routine investigation by the attorney general.
To all readers: in case you have never taken a First Aid course, now it is the time to register for one. They are typically offered free of charge, and you may regret one day not to follow this advice now in case you are thrown into a situation such as standing next to a loved one of yours who collapses.
The scheduler gave your family the correct instruction to wait for the ambulance car to arrive.
There is something called the "rescue chain", which begins with first aiders (standers by) who are expected to take first action, then hand over to paramedics upon their arrival, who in turn provide professional emergency care and transport the patient - once stable - to a hospital, again handing over the patient to an ER/stationary care.
Instead of "just waiting", next of kin are normally advised to start resuscitation procedures according to the algorithm recommended by the Red Cross or CHA
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiopulmonary_resuscitation
* https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/cpr/performing-cpr/cpr...
* https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cpr/basics/ar...
All kind of bad things can happen when transporting a critically ill person in a private car, notably accidents caused by a shaking, stressed and overwhelmed driver (e.g. a relative) ignoring traffic lights actual traffic and sometimes buildings. Ambulances have medication onboard as well as qualified staff, and they are only supposed to live once a patient is deemed stable.
In case an ambulance is very far away, the scheduler can also be asked to send a volunteer semi-professional or professional aider e.g. a medic living in the neighborhood or a Red Cross paramedic volunteer, to walk over and bridge the time.
Once, one of my co-workers died in the office (in Switzerland), which was right next to a hospital, despite two dedicated colleagues calling for help and administering CPR/first aid (I was at home in the shower when it happened). It can happen that all cars are somewhere else, or all emergency medical staff is already dealing with emergencies. In this case, the ambulance arrived after more than 40 minutes, which triggered a routine investigation by the attorney general.
To all readers: in case you have never taken a First Aid course, now it is the time to register for one. They are typically offered free of charge, and you may regret one day not to follow this advice now in case you are thrown into a situation such as standing next to a loved one of yours who collapses.