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| By Jan Myers - 911 Wellness Foundation |
A Couple of Questions: Why is the phrase, ‘I’m just a dispatcher”
still used? When will dispatchers
finally accept that they are first responders?
Over 15 years ago I was tasked to write an
article; an extremely unfamiliar and uncomfortable task required to complete a
year long process of becoming a master instructor for California Peace Officer
Standards and Training (POST). This was
not a task I took lightly for two reasons:
Being published scared the living crap out of me, and, I was JUST a dispatcher…How could someone like
me write an article?
Fast forward to 2015. President & Founder Sean Riley from Safe Call Now® asked me to write a segment for his blog, specifically for
dispatchers. I pondered on this for a
bit. I’m no longer fearful of writing,
thanks to the 3 plus years on non-stop writing required of a mental health
counseling graduate degree program. I no
longer work a radio or telephone system, thanks to a posttraumatic stress
disorder diagnosis in 2001 – not that I could not continue the work, I chose
not to. On the other hand, I’ve been
blessed to continue to work with 9-1-1 dispatchers, emergency call takers,
telecommunicators, etc., by way of teaching at academies in California and
Oregon, and participating with pro-dispatch programs such as Safe Call Now® and the 9-1-1
Wellness Foundation. Reflecting on these experiences, I continued
to ponder … What concerns have dispatchers continued to express in academies
and or advanced courses over the years?
What are they fearful of? Do they
still feel unappreciated?
