911 dispatchers are in short supply. In Missouri, cities are grappling with how to provide …. (MO)

ST. LOUIS – For the last year, the 911 dispatcher center for the city of Bridgeton covered the needs of its 11,000 residents with less than half of the dispatchers it needed.

As of this month, that center no longer exists. Instead, officials in the suburb 18 miles outside of St. Louis have decided to outsource 911 dispatch to St. Louis County under a three-year agreement approved in April. Rather than operate a center at half capacity, Bridgeton will pay the county $155,000 a year for the call services.

Iowa high court reverses, finding PTSD suffered by dispatcher compensable

 

A divided Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by a 911 dispatcher who answered a phone call from a mother screaming after her infant was killed with a claw hammer is compensable under the state’s workers compensation code. 

On appeal, the court was asked to determine whether state law places on emergency responders a different, higher bar to be eligible for benefits for trauma-induced mental injuries suffered on the job than workers in other roles with identical injuries, according to No. 21–0841, filed in Des Moines.