I trained last summer to do Dispatching at a local paid EMS company. They run a Paramedic and an EMT on their ambulances. Unlike public 911 Dispatching, we are also responsible for System Status updates- we have to balance crews around 2 counties incessantly, as crews take calls.
I could not do it. I’ve been in EMS since 1996, and an EMT since 2001 and I simply could not juggle the data stream. When they were really getting their butt’s kicked, the two dispatchers ( at matched consoles ) would handle multiple calls, 911 County calls from our county of residence that come in on the CAD System ( computer info ) AND the overhead speaker that gave us audio dispatch from the county next door. All at once.
I just couldn’t juggle it all and catch on fast enough. I’d done work as an EMT for these guys, and they tried very hard to get me up to speed. I admire the work you do, that all Dispatchers do. It’s high pressure and merciless.
At this company, they used both EMT’s and Paramedics with field experience AND “civillians” who had never been on an ambulance. As a part of orientation however, new trainees did ride a few shifts with a crew so they would truly understand what happend in an ambulance when the crews deal with Dispatch.
Folks, it is a precision, high-speed, critically important job. Yes, there is serious stress and some calls really rock the Dispatch Center. Typically child related calls, most others slide off our backs because we can’t linger on them, there are three more calls hitting that take our heads out of that one awful call. Huge Mass Casualty Incidents tend to get to people of course.
In the town where I live, I am friendly with an EMT who was the first on scene to a bus accident. A school bus accident. She was in her bathrobe, and heard the call hit and ran. She had her jump bag and O2, and radio. ( A sight, that specific situation aside, I’d pay money to see…
). Her first transmission was apparently, " This is Jane Doe, I am at 1200 Oak Drive, there is a school bus on it’s side with the roof peeled off the length of the vehicle. You need to send everybody. Just…send everybody you can ". It happened more than 12 years ago, they still talk about it.
Because you are not ON scene, and detached- there is a weird schism. You as the Dispatcher are in the hot seat, you coordinate personnel and feed the resources to help out a bad situation. You are powerless because you aren’t THERE, but you do the vital job of getting everyone else there.
As Badge said, from the other end of the radio ( and, having dispatched for roughly 6 weeks ), I salute your efforts.
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