Stormy Thoughts

NASA Infrared Satellite Imagery Shows the Power in Hurricane Irene,
 image taken at 2:39 a.m. on August 26th, 2011

After I had stumbled out of bed this morning and grabbed a cup of coffee, I plunked myself down on the couch in the living room and turned on the TV to see if I could get the latest forecast on Hurricane Irene. I was rather hoping that I'd hear that Irene had jogged to the east and wouldn't be the catastrophic event that they had been talking about when I'd last heard a forecast last night.

Turns out that Irene had indeed shifted to the east but only enough to miss hitting the Jersey Shore directly on a path that now has her pointed dead center towards Connecticut.  Oh dear. According to the weather gurus at The Weather Channel, "Hurricane Irene is set to become one of the more destructive hurricanes to hit the East Coast in at least several decades." You guys know that I love history but I'm not exactly too thrilled about the idea of living through history being made - especially in the form of one of those most historically damaging storms to hit the East Coast since either Hurricane Gloria in 1985 or the big Hurricane of 1938.

Obviously I wasn't around during the Hurricane of 1938 and when Hurricane Gloria hit Connecticut in late September of 1985, I was living clear across the country in Stockton, California so I wasn't here when Connecticut received the worst of the hurricane and tree and structural damage was massive. Along the coastline, storm surge and strong waves washed away several fishing piers and some roadways were underwater during the storm's passage. In other words, it was a mess and I remember that my parents were without power for almost two weeks in their small town of Canterbury.

The last hurricane to hit the East Coast was in August of 1991 when Hurricane Bob blew in from the tropics and made landfall twice in Rhode Island as a Category 2 hurricane. On August 19th, Bob first hit Block Island and then Newport before he continued north where the storm made landfall in Maine as a strong tropical storm early on August 20th. Turns out I wasn't around for that storm either as I was in New Hampshire on my honeymoon where we experienced a lot of rain and some wind but nothing like what the folks back home in Connecticut went through.

So I've been lucky and dodged a few bullets but it doesn't look like I'm going to be dodging this one.  As a matter of fact, it looks like I'll be riding this one out at work and keeping my fingers crossed that people don't feel the need to call 911 for non-emergencies like they do every other day of the week. Of course, I know in my heart that they will and then I'll have to worry about sending men and women that I care about out into a storm of epic proportions to take someone with a swollen finger that they've had for two weeks (or some such nonsense) to an emergency room that's going to be just as frustrated as we are.


This worries me.  As much as I might be worried about whether or not the big tree on the side of the house that the landlord should have taken down already is going to blow over or the tree in the back of the house near the garage that's already leaning dangerously to the right is going to finally topple into the driveway, I worry about having to send regular men and women out in regular vehicles into a storm with winds that could easily blow that vehicle and the crew inside of it off the road.

As much as the EMTs and Paramedics that I work with might sometimes want to think that they're superheroes driving around in rolling fortresses, they aren't and to put them in danger for something non-life-threatening causes me grave apprehension. It is my hope that the State Office of Emergency Management puts some sort of plan into effect that will keep us from having to do something like that but too many people have come to think that 911 is a magical number that summons magical beings to their door regardless of what the weather outside may be doing.  They forget that police, fire, and EMS personnel are just as human as they are and that heavy winds and rain are just as threatening to them as they are to the people calling 911 for help.

It is my hope that no matter what does or doesn't hit us in the next coming days that people use some common sense.  Unless there's a darned good reason for you to be out and about - stay home.  I don't care if the local bar is having a "Hurricane Party" and offering cheap food and drink - stay home.  I don't care if you think this is a good time to go to the casino because maybe it won't be crowded - stay home.  I don't care if you really want to drive to the coast and see the storm surge - stay home.  I don't care if you really need a cup of coffee and the local Dunkin Donuts was foolish enough to open and put their employees in potential danger - stay home.  And if WalMart feels the need to be open like they always are just in case someone needs snacks during the storm - stay home.

Please think twice about the fact that when you decide to ignore the warnings of the Emergency Management Centers and everyone else that has been monitoring the storm, not only do you put yourself in danger but you put the lives of everyone else who now has to go out to try to save you in danger also. It's not like there hasn't been plenty of warning that this storm is coming up the coast; there has been plenty of time to "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" and I sincerely hope that's what everyone has been doing.

Stay safe and please, stay home - unless of course you've been told to evacuate but that's a completely different story!

"When it's not done right, people die and that's the bottom line."

Yesterday morning the Today Show touched on a subject that is near and dear to my heart during a segment called  "Today Investigates".  The report from NBC's Jeff Rosen dealt with the results of a three-month investigation into "a dangerous flaw in the the Nation's Emergency 911 System" and began with Rosen saying, "when you call 911, you assume the operator is well-trained and that they can actually get you the help you need but some safety officials now tell us that the system you trust - the system we all depend on - may let you down when you need it most."


If you don't have time to watch the whole video, the investigation seems to have stemmed in part from an incident that occurred in October of 2007 when a young boy in Texas lost his life.  Apparently what happened was that when his mother wasn't looking, the 21-month toddler went into his family's backyard, got his head tangled in their soccer net, and strangled himself.  Upon finding her son, who had turned blue, the mother called 911 and was - naturally - hysterical.  During the course of the 4-minute call the emergency dispatcher who took the call did not give the mother any medical advice and told her to calm down 11 times.  Three days after the incident, the boy died at the hospital and the family is now suing the City of Murphy, Texas citing "... [lack of] adequate hiring standards, training, [and] supervision ... of its 911 operators."

The City Manager of Murphy said that the dispatcher was doing the job that he was trained to do trying to calm the caller down while also dispatching the ambulance, the fire department, and the police officers.  When asked why the dispatcher was not trained in CPR, the City Manager stated that he was not required to be nor were any of the other 911 operators in Murphy, Texas.  The City denies any wrongdoing in the case and says that CPR would not have saved the child but they have since changed their policy and now train all of their 911 operators in CPR.

The results of the 3-month investigation found 911 operators in 18 states in the country are not required to be certified in CPR and receive no 911 training requirements at all.  Industry insiders said "...dispatchers dealing with life-threatening emergencies are treated like receptionists and often paid less" and without the training "what you get are major mistakes"  but "... until Congress beefs up training and especially funding nationwide then lives are at risk."

Those of us who are 911 operators and dispatchers (telecommunicators) here in the State of Connecticut undergo rather rigorous training in accordance with the Connecticut General Statutes and must maintain that certification once we achieve it.  In addition, the Connecticut State Legislature passed a law in 2005 which requires all medical calls coming into a Statewide PSAP (a Primary Safety Answering Point) or 911 Communications Center be handled under what's called an Emergency Medical Dispatch protocol.  Those of us who provide Emergency Medical Dispatch are required to achieve and maintain certification in the protocols along with our Telecommunicator Certification.

The EMD protocol involves a series of questions so that dispatchers can determine:

• What the medical situation is
• If intervention is needed immediately
• What resources need to be dispatched (EMS, Fire, Police)
  
• How those resources should respond (lights and sirens or with the flow of traffic)
• And if pre-arrival instructions need to be given to the caller (CPR, bleeding control, child birth, etc)

As a certified EMD for over six years now, I know firsthand that people DO NOT like us asking a whole series of blankety-blank-blank questions and just want us to have the blankety-blank-blank ambulance materialize in front of their house with the single push of a button but - unfortunately - it just doesn't work that way.  There really is a method to our madness in asking all of those darnd questions and in the long run, those questions provide better care to our patients even if the caller thinks we are wasting time in sending them help.  Trust me, we aren't delaying help at all - generally the other dispatcher has started the ambulance out long before the operator on the phone gets anywhere near close to finishing up those blankety-blank-blank questions and providing instruction.  There is no delay involved whatsoever and I really wish that people could understand that.  However, I also know that time seems to go into slow motion for those who are anxiously awaiting help for a loved one and that what may in reality be just minutes, very well may feel like hours to the person on the other end of the phone.

Had the tragic situation spoken about in the video above occurred in Connecticut rather than Texas, a trained and certified 911 operator would have done his/her best to calm the boy's mother down and then given CPR instructions in order to attempt to resuscitate the child prior to the First Responders arrival on-scene.   Instructions are read from a specific script and not just rattled off the top of someone's head so you know that you are getting the proper help for whatever the situation may be.  Pre-arrival instructions don't always work - sometimes the patient is too far gone - but I know that at the very least the act of doing something is giving the caller(s) the assurance in knowing that they did everything they could to help the patient.

Hopefully someday the rest of the country will follow suit when it comes to how 911 calls are handled and people will no longer hear 911 horror stories like this but will instead hear stories of how people were able to save the lives of their loved ones following the instructions given to them by a well-trained 911 operator who was able to do more than repeatedly tell the caller to calm down.  Granted, calming down is half the battle with any emergency but a lot of times it's easier said than done.  Knowing that you've got a trained professional on the other side of that three-digit line has got to help calm a person down some - or at least that would be my hope!

At the end of the segment Matt Lauer made a very strong and valid point  ... "if any story should ever prompt people to go out and learn CPR, learn about poisoning prevention and things like that, it's this one - it really is."  He is absolutely right.  CPR and First Aid instruction is offered in so many places in so many communities that you really might be doing your family a disservice by not learning it yourself.  Though you might think you'll never need it, you just never really know and just like insurance, it's better to have it there than not.

As for those 911 operators out there who have not had to undergo training and certifications, I most certainly hope that changes soon as I have no doubt that they can feel pretty darned helpless when someone calls who really needs help and they haven't been trained on how to give it.  There is so much more to our jobs than answering the phone and asking "911, what's the address of your emergency?" and I, for one, wouldn't want to walk the tightrope of being a 911 dispatcher without having that safety net of training and certification under me.  I am sure that operator in Texas in the story above felt absolutely horrible but I also know that he couldn't give that poor mother what he didn't have - the knowledge and resources to provide possible life-saving instruction.

Perhaps this was a tragedy that those 18 states can learn from.  I sure hope so.

Meanwhile ... Back at the Dispatch Conference

As a kid I really wasn't all that much of a TV watcher preferring instead to hang out in my room and read or write in my journal - go figure! However, there are some shows from my youth that I still remember watching and enjoying. One of those was Emergency! - Jack Webb's television drama based on the adventures of two paramedics of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, John Gage and Roy Desoto.

Emergency! first aired in 1972 when I was a mere 13 years old and to this day I can still remember some of the episodes even when I can't remember what I had for breakfast! The great thing about Emergency! was it was a show that you could watch with your parents and not feel like crawling under the couch due to one embarrassing scene after another. It was TV at its finest and it didn't hurt that one of the main characters - Johnny Gage - was damned cute to boot!

Randy Mantooth, the actor who played that damned cute paramedic, was the Keynote Speaker at the Opening Session of the Navigator Conference that I attended in Las Vegas recently and I've got to say, he delivered one heck of a talk that had us laughing as well as nodding our heads in agreement.

For those of you wondering why an actor would be the Keynote Speaker at a conference for dispatchers let me just say that there was a very good reason for him to be there. In 1972, when Emergency! first aired, the paramedic program as we know it in the United States did not exist. If someone called for an ambulance, you got one but all you got along with it was a ride to the hospital. There were no life-saving techniques and no pre-hospital care at that time and chances were good if you were having a heart attack or major case of difficulty breathing, you weren't going to survive the trip to the hospital.

In the middle and late 1970s, Los Angeles County was one of the first communities - along with Seattle, Miami, and Pittsburgh - to start a paramedic program in connection with their local fire departments. When television producer Robert Cinader heard about this trial paramedic program that Los Angeles County was undertaking with funding by the California State Legislature he became so enthralled with the idea that he persuaded Jack Webb and Universal Studios to make an entire show about the phenomenon.

As was the case with his other TV shows, Dragnet and Adam-12, Executive Producer Jack Webb wanted his show to be as accurate as possible and that included making his characters as real as possible. Johnny Gage was based on the real firefighter turned paramedic Jim Page, who helped create the firefighter/paramedic program for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Jack Webb wanted to name the character after Page but he declined that particular honor and John Gage was born!

In addition to one of the lead characters being based on a real firefighter there were other aspects to the show that were based on reality - the role of the dispatcher was "played" by real-life LACoFD dispatcher Sam Lanier who had over 18 years' service to the department; Fire Station 51 is in real life Los Angeles County Fire Station 127 located in Carson, California; the second Engine 51 used in the show is now in service at Yosemite National Park in California; and the radio call sign KMG365, which is said whenever Station 51 is responding to a call, is still a valid FCC call sign licensed to the LACoFD.

Emergency! was so realistic that it has actually been credited with saving lives in that there were quite a few news reports over the years of children and adults saving people using techniques which were demonstrated in the series. In later years the show posted a disclaimer that the medical techniques should only be performed by trained professionals but it also inspired medical communities all over the country to start offering CPR and First Aid classes so that people could be trained properly.

Along with all that there was one more very important aspect to the show in that it saved lives by inspiring hundreds of men and women to become firefighters and paramedics themselves. A lot of boys wanted to be Johnny Gage when they grew up and that's exactly what they did - they became paramedics and they went on to save lives themselves - something that may have never happened had they not sat down in front of their TV sets on Saturday nights and watched Gage and Desoto in action. As a matter of fact, I work with a couple of those guys and some of them had the pleasure of hearing Randy Mantooth speak at last year's EMS dinner sponsored by Backus Hospital.

Thirty years after the series ended in 1979, Randy Mantooth has devoted a lot of his time to advocating for firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, and other emergency medical providers. He speaks at countless EMS Conferences and Conventions and he really makes us all feel good about our jobs and our role in saving lives. He may have been just an actor with no knowledge of EMS when he started Emergency! but he now has a unique perspective and insight into the start-up and history of pre-hospital treatment in the field and uses that insight and perspective to inspire future generations to become firefighters and paramedics.

I think it's great when an actor can use a character to inspire people like Randy Mantooth has. He's very personable, extremely articulate, has a great sense of humor, and - on top of all that - is still damned good looking, too! What more could you ask for in a speaker at a conference?!?

Following his presentation, Mr. Mantooth (who is half Seminole Indian by the way) went back to the Exhibitors Hall and happily signed autographs for as long as it took for everyone who wanted an autograph to get one. He'll sign anything that anyone wants but if you wanted to help support the Los Angeles County Fire Museum there were pictures and other things that you could buy for him to sign with 50% of the sale going towards the museum. My friend Andrew, who was inspired to become the great paramedic he is, by Johnny Gage had a birthday coming up so I bought a Hot Wheels version of Squad 51 and asked Mr. Mantooth to sign it for him, which he happily did.

He also took a moment for a picture with me -

Randy Mantooth's Keynote Address was definitely one of the highlights of the conference and I'm glad I had a chance to be there to hear it as it helped me to remember that even though my job can sometimes be frustrating and stressful, there are days when I actually do play some small part in saving someone's life - and that makes it all worthwhile.

There's No Crying In Dispatch

I'm a 911 dispatcher, a professionally trained and certified emergency medical dispatcher with years of experience under my belt. I help save lives. I have the knowledge. I have the well-scripted protocol. I have the ability. Sometimes all of that doesn't add up to a hill of beans.

Experience has taught me that whenever I pick up a 911 call and can hear the screaming before the receiver even reaches my ear it's not going to be good. Sometimes that screaming isn't a precursor to a totally hideous call, sometimes it's just the way that people react to situations that aren't life-threatening but scary and sometimes, well ... sometimes it's the precursor to a call that's not going to end well. Such was the case with a 911 call I picked up towards the end of my shift yesterday.

"American Ambulance, what's the address of your emergency?"

"Aaaaiiiiiiii ... help me, please somebody help me .... aaaaaiiiiiii!"

"Ma'am, please calm down, I need the address of your emergency so I can send you help."

"Help me, help me, help me - please send help! Oh help me!"

The dispatcher at the police department who had transferred the call over told me that the caller's husband was unresponsive and gave me the address and the phone number as well as the name that had popped up on their 911 screen (we don't have an enhanced system at our company so have to rely on the PD for the info when we can't get it out of the caller).

"Ma'am, can you tell me, is he breathing?"

"No, no, he isn't. Send help! Please send help!"

I tried to tell her that my partner was dispatching an ambulance and the fire department had also been started but she wasn't listening to me. Instead I heard her counting ... "1-1,000; 2-,1,000; 3-1,000; 4-1,000; 5-1,000; 6-1,000; 7-1,000". A pause and then a big breath. I turned to my partner and told him that she was doing CPR and he started a second ambulance to assist with what we call "a working 100", a code that means there is a potential cardiac or respiratory arrest and the patient could be dead already or could be brought back with the proper interventions and medications. In other words, it means we need more manpower and we need it there fast.

The caller finally came back to the phone still screaming for an ambulance and I attempted to calm her down using repetitive persistence, a technique whereby you tell the caller the same thing over and over in a calm and reassuring voice in an attempt to break though the hysteria. It wasn't working, I couldn't reach her as she cried to her husband to not leave her, to not die on her, that she loved him, that he had to wake up as she called his name over and over. They were the most anguished, heart-wrenching cries I had heard in a very long time and my heart went out to this unknown stranger on the other end of the phone.

I was finally able to get through to her enough to find out a little bit of information about his medical history and that he had gone to take a nap a half hour ago before she started to do what a lot of callers do - she started to blame herself. She should have checked on him, she never should have let him take a nap, she should have known something was wrong. I'm sure that my words of reassurance that she had done nothing wrong and not to blame herself went pretty well unheard but it was all I could think to say at the time. Where, oh where, was that ambulance or the fire department? The address wasn't far from us - what on earth was taking so long? Minutes seem like years when there is a life hanging in the balance.

The poor soul on the other end of the phone once again began imploring her beloved not to leave her, not to go, that she loved him and he couldn't die, he just couldn't. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I heard the ambulance crews arrive and the first responders come through the front door. I told her I was going to let her go and she said thank you before she hung up.

"Thank you"? For what? I didn't do a thing. I couldn't do a thing. All of my training, all of my years of experience, all of the well-scripted protocol, all of my knowledge and ability meant nothing with that call. I was simply a human voice on the end of a phone line; a person who heard the grief, the heartbreak, and the flat-out horror of someone finding a loved one no longer breathing and gone from this world. I was of no help to that poor woman at all. None.

After I hung up the phone I sat and stared at the spreadsheet in front of me, barely able to see it for the tears welling up in my eyes while feeling like a complete and total failure in my chosen profession and grieving for the poor woman whose name I didn't even know. But there's no crying in dispatch as there just isn't time. The wheelchair vans that I was dispatching that day were calling on the radio and I needed to acknowledge them even though I could barely speak around the lump in my throat. The phones were still ringing and couldn't be ignored. Life went on. At least in the dispatch center.

In spite of the best efforts of the paramedics, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, and police who arrived on the scene of that 911 call the patient didn't make it. He was 49 years old. It was Valentine's Day.

There's no crying in dispatch but there is in the car on the way home.

A Rant & A Rave

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First a rant ...

I already wrote about this particular topic once way back on November 14th of last year (see post here) but I think it bears repeating because there are still many, many, many people out there who apparently have not gotten the message, refused to hear it the first time, or suffer from a worse memory than mine. If, by repeating myself, this post can save just one 911 dispatcher the frustration that I felt today then it was worth it.

For those who don't know this - 911 is not - I repeat is not - a magic number whereby you dial it and help immediately and miraculously lands on your doorstep without you having had to tell the human being (human being - not psychic!) on the other end exactly what your particular emergency is. It does not work that way - we have to ask questions.

The reason I bring this up - again - today is that I had one of those highly annoying 911 calls that all of us who are insane enough to work in our chosen field get from time to time where the person calling felt that by screaming at me and being rude, he was going to get an ambulance to respond quicker. Add on the fact that I got this call at the very end of my shift while trying to give turn-over to the guy who was taking over for me and that explains why I brought the frustration home with me rather than leave it in the dispatch center where it belongs.

The call came from a local pharmacy store and was for a person who was having active seizures but rather than understand the fact that my partner was perfectly capable of starting the ambulance while I asked a few more crucial questions and maybe - just maybe - give some instructions to the caller that could help the patient before we got there, the original caller handed the phone over to the store manager who proceeded to scream at me about not asking stupid questions and just get the ambulance there NOW!

I should be used to it by now - I should be immune to people screaming and hollering at me on the phone - but I'm not. Why on earth do people think that being rude and yelling while treating me like a complete and total idiot is going to get them something quicker? I fully understand that watching someone have a seizure can be scary as the patient will tend to pass out and stop breathing (perfectly normal in the course of a seizure) but if a caller won't calm down enough for me to tell them that or what to do once the seizure stops, it makes my job that much more frustrating as well as making the caller helpless instead of helpful.

I am a trained professional. I can give vital life-saving information. I can pass on information to the ambulance crew that is responding that might make a difference in the outcome for the patient. But I can't do it if I'm being yelled at by the person on the other end of the phone.

Please, if you ever find yourself in a position where you have to call 911, try to remember that we are there to help and that we can help if you give us a chance. The ambulance or fire department or police officer is going to take awhile to get to where you are (the technology to "beam" people over yet does not exist) but in the meantime you as the person on the scene can help either your loved one, the stranger that you stopped to assist, or even yourself if you'll just give the 911 operator on the other end of the phone the chance to do so.

I'm sure that there is not a single 911 operator out there who wouldn't be thankful for the opportunity to do his or her job without being yelled at. I know I would be.

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Now a rave ...

Whatever you're doing tomorrow night between 7:00-8:00 p.m. EST, don't forget to tune into The Mo Show at it's new time spot on blog talk radio.

This week's topic will be "Classic Sitcoms" and it's sure to be another fun-filled hour while the magnificnet Morgen, host of the show, presides over such burning questions as:

Did you ever wonder why the Professor could make a radio out of a coconut but couldn't fix a hole in The Minnow?

Ever want Sister Bertrille to toss the habit and take a flying leap into Carlos Ramirez' arms?

Do you still say "Whachoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

It's sure to be a great hour and I would be willing to bet the farm that you'll be able to hear Mo's infectious laugh a time or two as there will be no canned laughter for our man Morgen!

Be there or be prepared to have some 'splaining to do!

This banner created by the talented Janna at http://jannagraphics.blogspot.com

My 911 Call For Help to All Bloggers Out There!

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I thought maybe I'd try writing a post with a sort of "pay it forward" twist to it and to that end I am asking the help of everyone that reads this blog to help bring it to fruition. I figure if I tell ten people and then they in turn tell ten people and then those ten people tell another ten people and so on and so on that this has the potential to affect a lot more people than just the small group that I could reach myself. This is a good chance to test the power of the blog and see where this goes!

First a little background and history: Each year, the second full week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators and was officially designated as "National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week" by Congress in 1991. The idea was first conceived by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County (Calif.) Sheriff's Office in 1981 and was observed strictly at that agency for three years before APCO (the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials) became involved in the mid-1980's and eventually took the idea to Congress seeking a formal proclamation.

Even though there have been Presidential Proclamations recognizing the week and the work of the people to whom it is dedicated, it is still not very widely known or recognized and even very few public safety agencies celebrate or acknowledge it. It's really too bad because public safety dispatchers and call-takers are those people who work tirelessly behind the scenes for their communities with very little recognition or thanks and yet provide a very valuable service upon which the entire public safety concept hinges.

When people pick up the phone and call 911 they aren't thinking about the person who answers the phone and what their role is in getting them the help that they have called for. The person who answers the phone and/or sends the cops or firefighters or medical personnel are simply a means to an end and are forgotten as quickly as the phone is hung up. The real "heroes" are the people who arrive on-scene and take care of whatever it was that the caller needed addressed. But how would those "heroes" know to get there unless there was someone to tell them to go there and what they were going for?


To be honest, I don't expect a lot of thanks in my job but when someone does say "thank you very much" before hanging up, I am thrilled. And I'm sure that all of my fellow dispatchers and emergency call-takers out there feel the same way. Just like anyone else, we like to know that our help was appreciated or that we could help in a time of need or crisis. Just like the people who arrive on-scene, we are generally very well trained in our jobs and that includes so much more than just answering the phone and getting an address and maybe a name and phone number.

I don't know the requirements for all States but in my home State of Connecticut those people who enter the field of public safety communications are required to attend a two-week course with the State Department of Public Safety and be certified as public safety telecommunicators or else they can't do the job. It's a tough course with a lot crammed into it and it's not that unusual for people to fail the test on the first try.

In addition to that, most departments have their own training requirements and standards. For example, as an emergency medical dispatcher at American Ambulance, I am also required to maintain certification through the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch and must renew that certification every two years as well as complete regular continuing dispatch education. There's a lot more to it than just sitting behind a microphone and sending cars on calls in between filing my nails and doing the daily crossword puzzle (oh boy don't I wish I had time for that!).

As I have said in previous posts, those of us who choose dispatching as a career do so knowing that it is the most stressful career out there second only to air traffic controllers. We don't do it for the cushy hours, the great pay, or the fame and fortune it will bring us - we do it because we have a calling and because we know that we can make a difference.

But that doesn't mean that we wouldn't mind hearing "thank you" every great once in awhile and what better time to do that than during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week? I'm not asking people to send cards, flowers, or home baked cookies to their local dispatch centers (though I'm sure they wouldn't be turned down!) but to just perhaps pick up the phone and tell a dispatcher or 911 call-taker that you appreciate what they do and that maybe you sleep a little better at night knowing that they and their co-workers are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year just in case something happens and you need help.

If you want to go over and above that, I will not say nay! Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, send a card to the dispatch center so that all can see it, or do anything else within reason that shows your appreciation for those "everyday heroes" who wear headsets instead of helmets (a firefighter reference there in case I confused you!)

Oh, and just as a disclaimer here, I'm not doing this for myself but for all of my fellow dispatchers and call-takers out there. I am very fortunate in that I work for a company that does, in fact, recognize National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week and also work with some of the best Paramedics, EMTs, and Chaircar Van Drivers in the industry who regularly tell me how much they appreciate me (something I never tire of hearing!) even via comments on MySpace page. Do this for the dispatchers who aren't so lucky and I'm sure that you will make their day - maybe even their month - because a small thank you really does go a long ways.

Now, if it's not asking too much, I would ask my fellow bloggers to pass this message on and by doing so perhaps other bloggers will also pick it up and post it. This won't be anywhere near as big as the Blogblast for Peace that I posted about on Saturday but who knows how many people it might actually reach and just think how many people's days you could make by this one simple act.

Thank you in advance for you anticipated participation and help!

"Those who can, do. Those who can do more, volunteer." ~ Author Unknown

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The above picture is how my day started out last Monday ... minutes after I walked into the room and started getting turnover from the out-going dispatcher we heard Norwich Fire toned out for a possible structure fire on Stonington Road. The scanner had barely stopped squawking when our direct line to NPD lit up with a request for our Rehab Unit to respond to the scene.

The Rehab Unit is that 16-foot trailer you see sitting behind our paramedic chase vehicle (also known as Gamma 1). The trailer is a climate-controlled environment where trained medical personnel can monitor vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate & rhythm, and respirations) for firefighters and Haz-Mat technicians. The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) requires a certain range of "normal" vital signs for post-fire activity and a stricter set of vital signs for Haz-Mat technicians both pre- and post-entry. The range of vital signs is based mostly on height, weight, and physical condition. Once a certain amount of body weight is lost through fluids it has to be replaced and medical personnel in the Rehab Unit provide rehydration so that firefighters can continue their job of fighting the fire.

In addition to sending out the Rehab Unit, we also send out at least one ambulance to standby in case someone needs to be transported to the hospital. In the case of this particular fire, we sent out three ambulances as the fire was at an apartment complex and there was the potential for multiple victims. This was a lot to deal with at 6:50 in the morning sans coffee but I couldn't exactly throw everything on hold while I got a much-needed caffeine infusion (memo to self: pick up coffee on the way into work!)

Thankfully most people were evacuated from the buildings very quickly and there were no fire victims, though we did transport several people from the scene for other medical issues. It wasn't until almost 1:00 that my units at the scene were freed up to do other calls and by then the day had gone the rest of the way down the tubes. Suffice it to say, it wasn't fun but I did eventually get some coffee into my system and that helped immeasurably.

Back when I worked at the Norwich Police Department in addition to dispatching police officers, I also handled fire dispatch so I had a pretty good idea what my compatriots across the street were going through on their end. If the noise the scanner was making was any indication of the type of day they were having, I fervently hoped that they had gotten their coffee on the way into their shift as chances were it was too busy for them to make a break for the coffee pot in the Chief's Conference Room! But knowing the people across the street, I know that they, like myself, were pretty much glued to their consoles and chairs for the duration because most dispatchers are going to want to stay with "their" people throughout the incident. Call it an occupational hazard but we get attached to those people we send into harm's way.

Whereas I may be sitting in a nice cozy (well, maybe not cozy!) dispatch center, there are a lot of guys and gals out at the fire scene who are far from cozy. Instead they're putting their own lives on the line to save other lives and protect property in a job that some might call crazy but which is vital to every community. Granted I might be juggling six things at once but none of them are going to kill me - unless I have a stress-induced heart attack and have sent all of my medics out of the building on other calls and left no one to revive me! The people out fighting fires run many risks including falling through a roof, smoke inhalation, burning debris, etc., etc. The risks are innumerable.

But they love it ...

I have never had a great desire to run into a burning building no matter how many times I may have watched Backdraft (it's one of those things that's right up there with jumping out of a perfectly good airplane - other people may enjoy it but it's not for me!) but since I went to work in EMS I have met a lot of people who not only like going into burning buildings, they do so on a volunteer basis. At last Monday's apartment fire in Norwich, the City of Norwich Fire Department was assisted by no less than ten other departments - eight of which were volunteer departments.

Volunteers. Why do they do it? What could make people dedicated enough to get out of their warm beds in the middle of the night, to leave in the middle of a meal, to forego whatever it was that they were doing at the dropping of a set of tones or beeping of a pager? What could make them put in hundreds of hours of unpaid training and practice? What could make them want to endanger their own lives for free? Well, more than the flashing lights, blaring sirens, driving the big red truck and wearing cool turn-out gear it's a sense of pride and desire to help other people in a time of need.

I asked one of the many volunteer firefighters I know why he had joined his local department and he said, "Because I like to help those that need it the most. When people call 911 they are in need and I like the feeling of being able to step in and provide that help. I also like the feeling of being able to walk into a situation that is completely out of control and recognize what needs to be done and do it. Knowing I had something to do with a good outcome is a great feeling and knowing that the training and sacrificing I have done paid off is ... great."

Considering the overwhelming number of fires we have had in Connecticut this winter alone, I think it's more than great that there are men and women like him who have that dedication and desire to help others. Without them there are many communities that would have no one close to come when they called 911 for whatever their emergency was - water in the basement, car accident, fire, medical emergency, or _____ - you fill in the blank.

Fire Prevention Week won't be observed until October 7th-12th this year but it's never too soon to tell your local volunteers thank you. The job they do is nothing short of amazing and awe-inspiring. Please join me in thanking them for the tough job that they do and for being there should we ever need them; I'm sure they'd appreciate hearing it!

A big thank you, also, to Josh Maloney of Windham County Fire Shots for allowing me to use his great fire pics! More photos, as well as a video recap of January and February fires, can be found by clicking the link and visiting his page. Tell him I sent you!

"Listen carefully and I'm going to tell you exactly what to do next." ~ NAED Emergency Medical Dispatch Protocol

I thought maybe it was about time that I wrote about something that frustrates me on a fairly regular basis as a 911 dispatcher. It isn't anything new - it's something that I've been frustrated about ever since I first picked up a headset and answered a 911 call but despite the fact that I have heard the same thing over and over and over again for so many years, it still amazes me what the mindset of most people seems to be.

911 is not an instant fix no matter what people might think; no matter what the movies or television has portrayed it generally doesn't work like that. No one has yet to invent the technology that will "beam over" a police officer or paramedic or firefighter to the scene of an emergency - I wish someone would but until then it takes a bit of time for emergency personnel to get from Point A to Point B and, believe it or not - yelling in my ear to just "get the blankedy-blank-blank ambulance here!" (or cops) is not going to make them get there any faster.

I understand the frustration that people have during times of emergency, I understand the desire to get a trained professional to the patient as soon as possible, and I understand that five minutes can seem more like five hours when you're waiting for that help to arrive. I am not discounting the panic, the anxiety, or the fear. I get it, I really do.

But - here's the thing - I can offer help to that panicked caller who can then offer help to the patient and that might just make the difference as to the outcome of the call. The State of Connecticut requires all emergency dispatch centers like the one I work in to have training in Emergency Medical Dispatching. That doesn't mean that I just answer the phone, get the address, and then send an ambulance tearing out of the bay with lights flashing and sirens wailing. What it means is that I ask a specific series of questions designed to send the patient the best level of care possible - questions that seem to frustrate a lot of callers as some of them will interrupt me with "do you have to ask all these stupid questions, can't you just send the ambulance?!?"

What some people don't seem to understand is that generally my partner has already started the ambulance while I continue to ask the caller questions (if I've got no partner then I will put the caller on hold just long enough to get the ambulance going and then come back to continue the call). Even though I tell the caller that my partner has already started the ambulance most of the time that part seems to go unheard. Because of that the person on the other end of the phone feels like the ambulance hasn't even been started yet but help is already on the way. And more importantly, help may very well be the person that I'm talking to on the phone.

Part of the Emergency Medical Dispatch system is the ability for myself and other trained 911 operators to give life-saving instruction over the phone - instructions that could make the difference between life and death for some patients - instructions that give the caller the ability to render aid before the ambulance crew arrives. I can give step-by-step instructions on how to perform CPR, I can tell someone how to perform rescue breathing, I can tell a person what to do if someone is experiencing a seizure, I can even give instruction on how to control a nosebleed until help arrives.

The bottom line is I can help the caller to help the patient but the caller has got to let me do that. He or she has got to take a deep breath, calm down, and listen to the instructions that I'm giving. Together we can help the patient until the trained emergency medical services arrive and rather than feel frustrated and stressed and panicked, the caller can have a feeling of accomplishment knowing that they helped the patient.

There is nothing in my job that makes me prouder than when I know that I've helped someone help someone else - when I've had the opportunity to use the resources at my disposal to help save a life or at least give someone the chance to make a difference. Sadly, even with these great resources at our disposal, it isn't always possible to save someone but it's a far cry better than just taking down the address, saying I'll send someone, and hanging up on the poor person on the other end of the phone so that they can pace the floor and wring their hands helplessly while waiting for help to arrive.

All I ask in return is for the caller to understand that I'm not just asking a bunch of stupid questions, that I'm not delaying the help that is needed, and that the blankedy-blank-blank ambulance has already been sent.

As I said before, I know that minutes can seem like hours but together we can make those minutes count.