an unexpected emergency

Remember how I saw that tram accident earlier this week - it made me realize I didn't know the emergency numbers and a few other things... Well yesterday I got that all sorted with a friend. He'd come in from out of town for a weekend visit after moving to Europe from the US. We went out to listen to a band, but they were sold out so we sat in a restaurant and had a nice chat. The events of the week, that accident, were reviewed, along with my lack of knowledge...so we went through all the various emergency numbers here and couldn't agree on the best one. We raised the topic again a few hours later after a nice walk through town and along the river. In the elevator in my flat is a sticker with the different icons and associated numbers. We settled on 112 being the all-purpose any-emergency number and the best one to call if needed.

Good thing we did that, cause not even half an hour later he tripped or slipped or something and went face first down the circular stairwell inside my flat. He ended up face down on a tile floor, knocked out cold - bleeding profusely from a large gash in his head and blood trickling out his nose - I was unable to wake him. Fortunately I remembered that number that had been such a topic of conversation and an ambulance was on it's way - they arrived 10 minutes after his fall, about 2 minutes after he regained consciousness. He will be ok, nothing life threatening - fractures, fissures, concussions but his brain is ok and so is his neck. That was probably the scariest thing I've experienced - there was a very brief moment when I thought he was dead. The monkey-kid was woken by his fall and she too thought he was dead when she came to check on the commotion. She went downstairs to let in the medics while I stayed with him, trying to wake him up and monitoring his breathing.

General information here - 112 is the all purpose emergency number. There are specific numbers for fire, police and ambulance but 112 will get you whatever you need in one call. I dialed it immediately, moments after his fall - I ran down the stairs and tried to wake him, saw the quantities of blood and found my phone and called. I was met with a Czech speaker but before I could finish asking for an English speaker I had already been transferred. While I could have given my address and apartment info in Czech I could not possibly have communicated the situation. The woman on the other end of the phone had perfect English, understood me without hesitation and was able to talk me through the steps I needed to take to make sure he was breathing with some regularity and how to try to wake him without risking further harm. I have had to call 911 in the US before and what I experienced here, in Prague, was a faster phone response, quick ambulance response, and a calm, calming and highly efficient emergency operator for which I am truly grateful - and a bit in awe.