PULSE Magazine | August 2018 Issue

[But] we’re not going to abandon the caller. We’ll help them stay silent and get to a safe place if [they] need to. But in that moment, the absolute priority is making sure the appropriate law-enforcement agency is responding to keep that caller safe and making sure that the call taker has the location and the information they need to send officers. Do the callers themselves ever threaten violence? Less frequently. We’re focused 100 percent on EMS calls. If a person is threatening violence, unless it’s toward themselves or something that would indicate we need to treat them medically or psychologically, that’s more of a law-enforcement issue than an [EMS] issue. What kind of emotional support is available to employees after potentially traumatic calls? We have a clinical office practice, two staff psychologists, employee assistance and peer support. [But most importantly,] one of the things we foster here at the academy is team accountability and a teamwork atmosphere. If somebody has to step away, we’ve got their back. We’re saying, ‘Go do what you need to do, we’re going to cover this.’ For that specific example I just gave you, there may be some tears immediately after disconnecting. That’s a collective effort between the person who took the call, their colleagues and the supervisor on that shift to say “Why don’t you go take a walk? I’m going to get your stuff together so you can go home and be with your family.” By supporting each other and allowing each other the space to cry, to reflect, to cope with trauma and stress, we let [our coworkers] know that we’ve got their backs and that if they need a moment they can take a moment. Do you feel your team is representative of call centers in other part of the country? I think there’s an inherent cohesiveness that occurs with shifts like these [regardless of location]. It’s not like a police car or an ambulance where it’s just the two of you. Depending on your service across the country, there’s anywhere between two and 10 of you in very close quarters [in a call center]. I attended a conference last year where I got to listen to call takers and dispatchers in Las Vegas speak about their experiences during the [concert] shooting last year on Route 91. They said things like, ‘We’re from different walks of life and different back- grounds, but when something tragic, something so traumatic happens, there’s no one else I would rather be with than these peo- ple around me. That’s the type of attitude and cohesiveness we have here at Austin-Travis County EMS. We do chuck wagon or potluck dinners where we get together, we break bread and we make sure that even though we may have tensions and disagreements with each other, we’re still a family.

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