My Dad Had A Very Bad Cold On Sunday And

My Dad had a very bad cold on Sunday and during the night he struggled to get his breath. He had to put his head out of the window to get air . He does have asthma occasionally but wondered if he had pneumonia. He was fine the next day but had lots of phlegm. His asthma inhaler did not seem to do much good. Should he have called an ambulance and what should he do next time?