It’s a family. We’re a large, funny, dysfunctional family with all the good and bad that come with it. These are my brothers and my sisters. We may not always get along but we are always there for each other. Nobody else understands me like they do. Sometimes I don’t even need to say a word.
These are all sentiments describing what it is like to be a public safety telecommunications operator. People working side by side for long hours, pushing through minimum staffing and mandatory overtime, dealing with chaos, trauma and boredom. When a rough call comes in or there’s hectic radio traffic, we all feel what that operator feels. Even if we’ve not been in that particular situation, we know what it is like to try and control a scene with only our voices, physically unable to do anything with our imaginations running wild. There is an empathy in 911 Dispatch that makes us strong and allows us to do our jobs day in and day out with little recognition and support.
Calm
When I think about the ways my co-workers helped calm me, there are so many situations that existed without any fanfare. It wasn’t like any of us consciously thought, “I’m going to go help calm her down.” After all, there is still an environment of stoicism that makes many of us hesitate to acknowledge the impact of the work on our emotional, mental and physical health. Regardless, we recognize those times when a soft word, a hand on a shoulder and especially an authentic, warm embrace will make all the difference when it comes to trying to slough off the impact of something bad. One Easter, I worked swing shift coming in after spending the morning with my young sons celebrating the day. I still wore my church dress because I didn’t have enough time to change. This was before our department went to uniforms. I sat down at one of our hot (priority) dispatch channels. Soon a call came in of a drowning. A 7 year old boy had been discovered in the family pool during an Easter party. He didn’t make it. While working this call, all I kept thinking about was my 7 year old son. He was still struggling to learn how to swim. When the fire dispatcher made a comment about how ridiculous it was that this child didn’t know how to swim and if he had known he wouldn’t have died, I about went through the roof. The whole call was devastating and the judgment of the fire dispatcher was the final straw. When I was relieved I went outside to sit in the Arizona sunshine. A co-worker came out a few minutes later and just sat down beside me. She didn’t have to say anything. She didn’t have to touch me. She just sat there letting me feel her calm support. I didn’t feel judged. We were in this war of saving lives together. It made a world of difference to have her sitting there. When my 15 minutes was up I went back to my job ready to face the next chaos and feeling whole once again.
Support
“Do you need to talk,” I asked a co-worker who had just dealt with an intense and long domestic violence call. The look she gave me was priceless-at first baffled, then annoyed, then amused. We both started to laugh. This would have seemed like a strange exchange for anyone outside of our line of work. The humor was in the fact that it was one of those normal supportive questions that work in so many other situations but seems ridiculous for us. We just got done talking someone through an emergency situation and the last thing we want to do is continue talking. But by asking, the support is there. The realization something just happened and that support needs to be offered but at the same time understanding that routine support just doesn’t quite work in our situation most of the time. Although, there are times when talking is absolutely what is needed. The ability to vent about what just happened helps us try to make sense of irrational events. Getting the uncontrolled words out after having spent a chunk of time using very structured communication can hugely impact our ability to move forward from tough calls. Being able to do this in a safe environment with safe people is invaluable and that is where co-workers come in. We’ve been there-done that. We aren’t going to go get the white vest because we know exactly what you mean. We also know that nothing you say is going to keep you from doing your job as soon as you put that headset back on. This is support at its best.
Guidance
It’s exciting to see how the informal calming and support of peers within emergency communications centers is becoming a more formal process. Agencies across the country are embracing peer support programs and sending people to training so that they can be there appropriately when a co-worker needs them. One of the greatest things about this program is that the peer support person can recognize an incident that might be affecting a co-worker and go and approach them. They can get them relieved so that they can be calmed and supported. Often, we don’t want to seem weak and even more concerning is that we don’t recognize the effect that something is having on us. Due to this, having someone trained and authorized to have an operator relieved so they can go take care of themselves is invaluable. We don’t have to ask for help, which we generally will not do if it’s for ourselves. We’re just given the help we need. Peer support teams will guide us into the future. A future hopefully where taking care of our emotional and mental health is supported further up the food chain then the person at the console next to you.
Public safety communications operators are a family. You work in close quarters with traumatic events occurring all around you. You sit for hours on end in boredom. Like patrol partners, you often know more about your co-workers home life than you do about your own family. We might drive each other crazy but we are also the reason we stay sane. Appreciate each other. Thank you to all the wonderful co-workers I’ve had over the years sitting in the hot seat.
Michelle Perin
Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University.
