Just like it seems remarkable that we are still having to fight to be classified a protective occupation, I am amazed at the struggle 911 Dispatchers have to be recognized as being affected by trauma. I’m not saying that every public safety telecommunicator has Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or any diagnosable disorder at all. Honestly, I believe our current environment of making every nuance of humanity a DSM5 code is a bit alarming. What I am saying is that it is undeniable that those who take 911 calls and work police, fire and EMS radio are subject to trauma and stress. Spend 15 minutes in any communications center and you’ll agree. The biggest argument to the physical, emotional and mental toll that this work takes on a person seems to be in relationship to worker’s compensation. Once a correlation has been made between a factor of a job and an ailment, employees will be able to get compensated when the ailment keeps them from performing their job. In many places, the traumatic stress related ailments affecting police officers, fire fighters and emergency medical personnel are being recognized but 911 Dispatchers are still fighting to be categorized within this group of first responders. Since this is such a complex topic, I want to begin by looking at two areas: what is a first responder and what are the components of stress.
First Responders
I don’t care what anyone says, we ARE first responders. I have been contacted a number of times by people doing research on the effects of stress on 911 Dispatchers. These have been students, Communications Center managers and lawyers. People always ask me for specific research and statistics relating to 911 operators and mental health. They often lament the miniscule amount of information that they have been able to find. My response? “You’re searching too narrowly. Try looking for first responders and stress.” There is so much amazing work that has been done in this regard especially by the US Military. Most of the battles police, fire and EMS have won to get their stress-related ailments recognized have been supported by the research done on first responders. 911 Dispatchers are in the same category therefore affected by the same research. A first responder is someone designated or trained to respond to an emergency. Nowhere in this definition does it say respond to the scene although much of the old school thought pattern was that a first responder has to go immediately to the scene of an accident or emergency to provide assistance. I disagree. I do not believe that you have to actually be there to be a first responder. When a 911 Dispatcher is talking a bystander through life-saving CPR, are they not there? What about when they are calming the fears of a child hiding in a closet while his father beats his mother in the same room? How about calling out locations, getting additional resources, and using tone and cadence of their voice to calm the stress and fear in the field units during an officer-involved shooting? Not there? Every single situation, they are there. You don’t have to be there to be there. We are not JUST a dispatcher or JUST a 911 operator. 911 Dispatchers are first responders. Period.
What is stress?
Stress is normal people having normal reactions to events. Many first responders feel the idea of stress and especially the thought of being affected by stress has a negative connotation and has a lot of judgment attached to it. This judgment is not only coming from our co-workers but also from ourselves. The negative self-talk that we entertain ourselves with is often worse than the stressor. We ask ourselves, Why am I feeling this way? Shouldn’t I be able to handle this? Others aren’t having a hard time with this. What’s wrong with me? The answers to these questions are vastly different when we remember that we are normal people having normal reactions to events.
The Event
The first part of the stress process is an event. Something happens in our environment. It is a fixed situation that happens outside ourselves. These events can be in two major categories: basic stressors and acute/traumatic stressors. Basic stressors are those things that just happen because we are human living in the world. Most of us think these are always negative, but they can be positive as well. Negative basic stressors can be related to home, finances and family. The work can add additional basic stressors such as mandatory overtime, minimum staffing, continuously changing policy and co-worker or supervisor conflicts. Positive basic stressors can be births, significant life events such as marriage and graduation or new employment opportunities. Promoting to trainer or supervisor is a good thing but fall into basic stressors. These events are part of life.
Along with basic stressors, we can have acute or traumatic events. These are the major events that hit us hard. A traumatic event is one that causes physical, emotional, or psychological distress or harm. It’s perceived as a threat to one’s safety or to the stability of one’s world. These can also be events that threaten the safety of another person. This is where 911 Dispatchers get drawn indirectly into the violent, helpless and hopeless event being experienced by another. We are not just bystanders listening to a tape or watching a movie. We are part of the scene. Wear trying to mitigate an emergency and bring help and safety. As NG911 rolls out, we’ll get live streaming video to go with our exposure. An acute event is a bad, difficult or unwelcome situation experienced to a severe or intense degree. This can be any event and is determined by the second phase of stress: perception.
