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Ambulances for the elderly: common calls and preparation

After 75 the ambulance is called not "when it hurts" but when "something is off": the parent became drowsy, stopped getting up, confuses day and night. In older people a heart attack can come without pain, pneumonia without fever, and a urinary infection with confusion. So the threshold for calling is lower and preparation matters more.

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What to do right now

A folder with documents and medication
Passport, insurance policy, SNILS, recent discharge summaries and an up-to-date medication list with doses — in one place everyone knows. It saves the crew ten minutes and prevents mistakes.
Devices at home
Blood-pressure monitor, pulse oximeter, glucose meter for diabetics, thermometer. Keep the last few days’ readings in a notebook by the bed.
Know your parent’s "normal"
Their usual blood pressure and pulse, how they normally speak and walk. The crew needs the deviation, not the absolute number.
Arrange calls from a distance
If you live in another city, find out how your parent will open the door, which neighbour has a key, and keep our number: the dispatcher accepts a call from you for another address.
Do not wait for morning
Older people deteriorate quickly; a night call-out costs less than a morning resuscitation.

Call an ambulance if

Confusion or drowsiness that appeared over hours or days
A fall, especially with a head impact or on anticoagulants
Breathlessness, weakness and sweating without pain — a possible heart attack
A temperature of even 37.5 °C with lethargy and refusal to eat — fever is blunted in the elderly
No urine for a day, or no bowel movement for more than four days with pain
Stopped getting up, eating and drinking
Blood pressure above 180 or below 90 with poor wellbeing

What not to do

Do not put confusion down to age — it is a symptom of infection, dehydration, stroke or medication
Do not give "your own" blood-pressure tablets
Do not leave them alone after a fall
Do not postpone admission out of fear that "hospital makes it worse" — with pneumonia and dehydration, home is worse

What the crew does

Examination, blood pressure, saturation, blood sugar, ECG — the standard is broader for older patients
A review of medication: half of the problems in the elderly come from drugs and their combinations
Treatment on the spot: infusion for dehydration, injections, oxygen
Admission to internal medicine, neurology or geriatrics by dispatch order; with dementia, with an escort

This page is for information and does not replace a medical examination. If the condition worsens, call the crew: +7 (985) 887-82-52.

This page in Russian: Russian version.

Questions

Can I call a crew to my parent while I am in another city?

Yes: call the dispatcher, give the address, the condition and your parent’s phone number; pay remotely by SBP or card. The crew calls you back after the examination.

How much does a visit to an elderly patient cost in Moscow?

Call-out 6,000 ₽ inside the MKAD, ECG and procedures by the price list; a typical visit with examination, ECG and a drip is 20,000–25,000 ₽.

My parent has dementia and will not let doctors in — what can we do?

Warn the dispatcher: the crew arrives without visible ambulance markings, introduces themselves by name and does not argue. For aggression there is a psychiatric crew; when life is at risk, admission with an escort.