Knowing your Eircode off by heart could save someone’s life in an emergency

Do you know your Eircode?

Before becoming a writer I applied to become an emergency call operator. The application required us to take tests including pretend emergency call scenarios. It was during these pretend emergency calls that I really became aware of the stress operators go through trying to get an ambulance out as quickly as possible. In order for them to help you as fast as they can the most important thing is for them to know your address, which if you live in a rural or difficult to find area can be tricky. The one way that we can all resolve this issue is by knowing our Eircode off by heart. In any normal type of situation we can all direct someone to our home but if someone you know is ill, choking or had an accident then all of that goes out the window. Panic sets in and sometimes in this panic we can forget the things we need to say to people like emergency call operators. To prevent this from happening the best thing you can do is know your Eircode off by heart or written down beside your house phone or both. Our Eircodes are geotagged and will allow the ambulance to find our home as quickly as possible, which could in turn be potentially life saving. While most of us just root out our Eircode when trying to order something online that requires a postcode it's actually much more useful than we think. Emergency responders across the country are asking people to keep their Eircodes in a place where they can be found easily in an emergency or simply know them off by heart as it will help them to find you more easily. If you don't know your Eircode you can find it by typing in your address to the Eircode website here.