In your family or group of friends, is there one person you look to in a panic or emergency situation you rely on to "come through"? Are you that person and if so, how do you keep yourself calm inside while being on the spot?

I guess it comes natyurally to me to start giving orders. I am not calm on the inside, or probably not. I am not thinking about my inside at all. I am completely focused on the situation, and all I see is what is and what ought to be done about it. “You go call the hospital You go get a blanket. You, hold his head.” Or “You shut down the disk drives, all of them. You look up the last backup. You call tech support.”

I haven’t always given the right orders, but people jump to obey them anyway, and they’ve never made the situation worse. They keep us from going to pieces until somebody who actually knows what to do shows up.

[Edit] If somebody who knows what to do is already there, I meekly obey.

I AM that person and I got that way from experiencing a lot of different emergencies and learning what to do in a lot of emergencies including those related to healthcare and fire.

Part of it is in my genes, however.

Besides my husband who comes in first, of course, I have a friend who I met on Askville about year ago. We have become very close, & we either IM every night, or we talk on the phone. We kind of stableize each other. He’s had medical & personal things happen that he’s called me about right away. When I hit a deer & totalled my car in November, after I called my husband, I called him. We know we’re here for each other. He’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had.

As for me, both of our daughters call me immediately when something happens. We’re all a good support system for each other.

It’s always Hubby and I in our family. We both seem to have a natural, built in ability to deal with emergencies, and we are not afraid to call in the professionals when necessary.

Two family households are reluctant to call 911, they call us first, and both families are covered by insurance. It boggles the mind.

Cool question! Yes, it is myself. First of all, I have had training in a lot of different areas of crisis management, first aid, explosives, anti-terrorism, etc., So I do owe it to the training. While I can’t diffuse a bomb, I can certainly save some lives and perform first aid. Anyone can with training, even children.

Whoever you are, the necessary steps are universal. They meet the needs of each situation in priority.

To stay calm: Completely dissociate yourself from the experience. You have a mission to accomplish and will not stop or comment on anything until everyone is safe. You not be emotionally attached to this situation and you are not a victim of it like they are, so you do not need to “experience” it like they are. (Meaning that in advance you have decided that the way you will remember this is trying to save people from ____, instead of: the day ____ happened.)

To perform crisis management and first aid:
DO NOT get any blood on you. That is rule #1

#2 Assess the situation.
#3 Delegate task to specific individuals by pointing at them directly and stating “YOU, go call the police”, “YOU, go get a fire extinguisher”,.“YOU, go get some clean towels”, etc. Cover the priorities!

#4 Remove survivors from danger’s location. Perform first aid as necessary. Attempt to neutralize the danger, removing possibility of yourself or others becoming injured.

Wait for help to arrive, stay with the most critically injured to try to ensure their survival, remain to speak with police or paramedics on details of the incident. Go home and shower! Think about what you are going to do the next day. Keep your mind on something else that is positive Eat (if you can), and go to sleep!

Every situation is different but this is the basic outline for crisis management and first aid. These skills are highly valuable to all, and I hope this helps someone! Enjoy!