When there is a medical emergency , emergency medical services should be notified as soon as possible by calling for help using a local emergency telephone number , such as 911 in the United States or Canada , 112 in most of continental Europe and on GSM cell phones , 999 in the UK and most of its former colonies ( 112 works as well ) , 118 in Italy , 119 in South Korea and Japan , 000 in Australia , 101 in Israel and 111 in New Zealand . For emergencies starting outside of medical care , a key component of providing proper care is to summon the emergency medical services ( usually an ambulance ) , by calling for help using the appropriate local emergency telephone number , such as 999 , 911 , 111 , 112 or 000 .