Some valuable advice from the site SqualorSurvivors.com (see their site announcement) from a paramedic:

Paramedic tips

Here's hoping that this situation never arises, but if you or another member of the household has an accident or falls ill, you may have to call a paramedic for assistance. There is no mess so bad that the occupants should have to suffer without medical care. Fortunately, we have a member who is an emergency medical technician, and she shared with us some tips for making the whole experience of having an EMT enter your home as smooth and painless as possible.

Hints to help you prioritize:

1. If anybody is taking a lot of medications, it's very helpful if they're where they can be scooped up and handed to an EMT or medic. This can be hard if the way you've learned to take your medications is to store each bottle someplace where its presence will remind you to take your medication. I'd urge anybody to come up with a system for being able to easily get medication information to EMS responders. It can be a list or a bag full of empty bottles that have current information on them, or ANYTHING that will give the EMS workers up to date and accurate information. But a bag with all the current med bottles in them is best -- it has all the information on we need, plus the phone number of the patient's doctor and pharmacy in case those are needed.**
2. The easiest path for you to go in and out might not be the best path for the EMTs. My mom and dad, for example, use the side door because it's nearest to where they park their cars and takes them into the kitchen where they can put down their packages. But the best way in and out for an ambulance crew is the front door -- fewer steps and no tight corners. When my dad had his stroke, Mom was having to get plants and empty flowerpots and wind chimes out of the way. So try to keep a clear path in and out through the exit that makes the most sense for EMS responders. And try to have a clear path from there to the street or driveway. And if they can back the ambulance up almost to the door, so much the better!
3. If there is a large person living in the home, remember that it might take a lot of people to remove them from the home. We've had to get four firefighters to help us move some patients. Will there be room for that many people to move around?
4. As a courtesy, please let EMS responders know if they won't be able to get in and out with the gurney. You can either tell the 911 operator, or have somebody meet the ambulance and tell them something like, "There are a lot of tight corners between the patient and the door," or "The house is pretty cluttered, they might want to check it out before they bring the gurney in." It's no fun to haul a gurney up the stairs to a house only to find out you can't actually use it. And it takes unnecessary time, because then you have to move the gurney out of the way and go back to the ambulance for an alternative. EMS crews DO have gear to get people out of tight spots. It's nice to know in advance that we'll be using them. For example, one home had very tight staircases and the only path to the ambulance took us between two buildings very close together. Since we knew that, we just left the gurney in the unit and brought in a specialized spine board.
5. Even if Fido does't bite and Fluffy doesn't scratch, try to have somebody scoop up pets and get them contained in another room. Once we were struggling to get an IV into a patient who was thrashing violently, and a kitten was trying to play with my shoelaces! Cute kitten, but I'd rather not have met him under the circumstances.

And although they're human, remember that EMS workers see people's houses as they REALLY keep them, so they are aware of the secret squalor that folks manage to hide from everybody else. Your house is not the first messy one they've been in. They're concerned about the well being and safety of their crews and the patient, not about your housekeeping.

Contributed by Granny Grump 42

**

Here, you can go to the hospital, or I'm sure the doctor's office might have some, and get a bottle. In this bottle is a piece of paper that you fill out with the person's name, any problems they might have (diabetes, heart problems, etc) and any medication they take. Then you store the bottle in your fridge door. The bottle is accompanied by a sticker you put on the front door or a window by the front door so the paramedics are aware you have the information and they know where to find it. I'm sure other places have it and it's just a matter of asking your doctor about it.

Sometimes in the rush of the moment, things can be forgotten so it's a handy way for the information to be available and since anyone who uses this system is advised to put it in the fridge door ONLY, EMT's can find it immediately.

Additional material contributed by MessyCowgirl