Two stories from a few years ago. I was a paramedic and ran ambulance calls for many years. Out of dozens of patients in medical cardiac arrest, I was only able to save ONE to a more or less normal life when CPR had not been done by some non-medical person first (zero saves of trauma cardiac arrests while on the scene, CPR or not). So rather than telling people to "let the professionals handle it", I would much rather have them jump in and do their best immediately. You wait for the ambulance to get there, and you've pretty much signed the death warrant. Citizen involvement is critical - it would be tough to make the 4-6 minute window even if the paramedics were standing across the street with gear in hand!

Another story. This time I was the "citizen help", even though I was a paramedic - certified in a different state - at the time. At 65 mph an individual fell out of the back of a pickup truck right in front of my car. We won't discuss his basic intelligence at this time! Luckily I didn't hit him, and myself, an ER nurse, and a physician were very shortly by his side taking care of him. Amazingly enough he just kindof bounced and skidded and came out relatively unscathed in the end. However, before we really knew that diagnosis, the ambulance rolled up and the attendant said, and I quote, "Let's treat the obvious injuries first". Anybody with medical training should recognize the idiocy of that remark. So much for that particular "professional". Glad it wasn't me he was working on.

Of course there are times when citizen help would be a hinderance or dangerous. Trying to rescue someone clinging to the side of a cliff without the proper gear comes to mind. So each situation has to be evaluated on it's own merits. However, I do agree that the media and many professionals emphasize "stay away" much more than they should.