PULSE Magazine | April 2019 Issue

our COMMUNICATION MEDICS

Haley Fleming, Clinical Specialist, 3.5 years 1. What drove you to purse a dispatch career?

I started with communications while still in paramedic school. It began as a way to get my feet wet, and I quickly realized how much I love the unique challenge that commu- nications presents.

2. Tell me about a day in the life of a 911 dispatcher Shift change can be pretty hectic! One person can log off at a time, because we need to make sure we have a certain number of people ready to take calls. As soon as you’re logged on, the calls start rolling in. Because we operate in a “ready state”, the next call will just come into our headset automatically. There’s no mentally preparing yourself to pick up a phone call. We stay at our consoles the entire 12-16 hour shift… I typically try to take 2 breaks per shift depending on call volume, I’ll go put food in the microwave, run to the bathroom, and take a walk before bringing my food back to my console to eat. 3. What would you like the public to know about the work you do? It can be incredibly demanding at times. We often hear the worst moments of peoples’ lives, and seldom get closure. Ones responders arrive on scene, I disconnect and take another call. I don’t usually get to know the outcome, and that can be emotionally and mentally draining. 4. How do you decompress after a difficult call? It depends on call volume. If someone is already out of the room, or the call volume is too high, I’m not able to take a break to decompress. If I am able to take a break, I typically go for a walk outside. 5. What misconceptions about being a dispatcher would you like to clarify? There’s a lot more to this than just answering the phone or clicking buttons. There is a lot of critical thinking that goes into both call taking and dispatching. Having to calm a frantic caller and convince them to answer your questions or follow your instructions, while simultaneously typing information for the field responders, communicating with your fellow call-takers and the dispatchers…it can be overwhelming, and takes a lot of training and skill to be able to do well.

6. Any other information you wish to include about being a dispatcher. We are human. These calls affect us more than we sometimes let on, and sometimes we need to hear the support of our field counterparts.

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