First, I am not a hospice worker, just another family caretaker ... so!

I did call 911 before I called hospice because I used my common sense in a moment of crisis. Mom, 94, fell in the small bathroom and got herself wedged between the toilet and the bath tub, a space about 12" wide. It was around 9PM.

She hit her head on the toilet as she went down and she knew and we knew she had broken her ribs on the edge of the tub. Plus there was blood on the floor below her where I couldn't see what was happening.

I called 911 first and immediately called hospice after ...

Mom weighted about 185 lbs and no matter what the 'rules' said there was no way in hell that I and one little hospice nurse was going to be able to get her untrapped and off the floor and back into her bed.

So I did call 911 for emergency man-power and it took all three of the EMTs to get her up enough to slide a blanket under her to be able to slide her out between the toilet and tub. And then it took all four of us to get her into her wheel chair to get her back to bed.

911 arrived within ten minutes of my call, the hospice nurse didn't make it here until about 3/4 of an hours (we live in a very large county and she was at the other side when we called). The EMTs were just getting her into bed when she arrived.

Now ... I gave the EMTs Mom's Hospice packet immediately when they arrived. Everyone knew that no decision would be made about 'going to the hospital' until the hospice nurse arrived.
And everyone, including Mom, knew she was going to the hospital.

But thank heavens that I did call 911 because I think she would still be stuck in the john, bleeding and suffering in pain, without their help.

Oh, and her medicare account has not be charged by the local ambulance crew for anything to date.