I am so pissed! Days ago, I sent an e-mail to our State Gov't asking if there was a non emergency number to use for help (such as 311). I received an e-mail today with an 800 number to call. It turned out to be the main Alzheimer's number and the person I spoke with there did not seem to have a clue what I wanted and said to call the CA office during the day if I needed assistance. So I called 911 and spoke to someone who told me to call the local Sheriff's office if I need help. Guess I'd better have a neighbor home if anything happens.

Brindle, from a voice of MUCH experience...call 911...Immediately announce that this is NOT a medical emergency,....they may begin asking you questions (printed on a card in front of them,..be patient, they HAVE to do this...they are being recorded)...whenyou have an opportunity to speak, say My Husband fell and I need assistance in picking him up off the floor. This is not a medical emergency. She will HAVE your address on her screen, but may ask you again...Tell her front door or side door,..and then turn on as many outside lights as you can. Often I'd stand at the door. They will be there within minutes. Again, tell the guys on the truck you do not need a stretcher, this is not an emergency. they come in... help you out... leave. Never asked for medical info, never received a bill,not one time. I must have called them ten or twelve times when my husband fell and I was unable to get him up.

Thank you all so much. I hope I won't need to use it but am so grateful for your advice and comments in case I do.

I had a bad experience with a 'non-emergency' call for DW's last trip to the hospital. She had been violent all morning. Had my son staying with her when I went to the doctor to show him the video. My son got her to take some Xanax , which knocked her out for an hour. I made arrangements with doctor to admit her to hospital for a meds adjustment. After the chemo was over, behavior was getting out of control. As she was waking up, she was groggy, but more compliant. My son and I got her to the car, but we could not get her in. For a small woman, she was remarkably strong. We could not get her to bend to get in the car.
I searched on the internet for an admin phone number for the fire district. I asked them "How do I make a "non-emergency" call for an ambulance?" They said no problem and switched me to someone. I explained the situation, that she had dementia, that I needed help in transporting her to the hospital. I explained that I needed calm, no lights, soothing voices, no excitement. No problem. Four minutes later, five cop cars, followed by an ambulance, come screaming down my quite neighborhood street, all with lights flashing and the ambulance honking the intersection horn. They screech to a stop, climb out running with weapons drawn. It took me some time to get them to holster their weapons and listen to what I was trying to tell them. In the end, it took five paramedics to strap her to the gurney. One got bit, two got scratched, despite my warnings. After they got her in the ambulance, I asked one of the policemen, "what the hell was that about?" He said that the call they got was "woman fighting". I was so careful to explain and the dispatcher boiled it all down to "woman fighting".

The point of this is, "How do you make a non-emergency call for help" is a very good question.

My wife died 12 days after the incident. The incident probably did not have any affect on her other, than fresh targets of opportunity, but the stress of that day didn't do me any good.