by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 16, 2019 | Comm Center News
CARTHAGE, Mo. – Kima Burnett has been a dispatcher with Jasper County Emergency Services for 22 years.
In that time she’s taken more stressful calls than she can count.
Kima Burnett, Trainer, Jasper County Emergency Services: “Calls involving children are hard. Taking a call from someone I knew reporting a suicide.. that was very hard. Taking a call from someone that went back into a burning building and I was on the line with her for her last breaths.. not realizing until after the fact when a responder let me know that happened. Lots of hard calls over the years.”
Burnett says a big part of what makes the job hard is not knowing what happens after they hang up the phone.
In fact, research posted in the Journal of Traumatic Stress in 2012 shows more than 30 percent of dispatchers experience high levels of stress after major calls, and links some of it to a lack of closure.
Burnett: “So a lot of it on our part is speculation, trying to play the what if game in our head and try to figure out what could have transpired. And over a period of time, that not knowing can really take a toll.”
Supervisors with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office have started new efforts to change that.
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 16, 2019 | Comm Center News
The bill would reclassify 911 dispatchers as Protective Service Occupations
FREDERICK COUNTY, Va. (WDVM) — Lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are considering a bill to change the classification of 911 operators, a move dispatchers say would be a positive change in a stressful field.
According to the U.S. government’s Standard Occupational Classification System, 911 dispatchers are considered secretarial positions — making them different than first responders.
“We do so much more than answer the phone,” said Tara Vann, the second shift supervisor at the Frederick County Emergency Communications Center. “We’re the thin gold line. We’re the line between the blue and the red that kind of keeps it all together.”
House Bill H.R. 1629, also known as the 911 Saves Act, would change the classification, making the role of a dispatcher a Protective Service Occupation. The bill, introduced by former 911 dispatcher and now California Congresswoman Norma Torres, would also allow dispatchers to retire at an earlier point in their career, equivalent to those in law enforcement or fire rescue.
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 15, 2019 | Comm Center News
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — When Meghan Dunleavy emailed Berkeley County on July 1 to resign as an emergency dispatcher, she also expressed concern, writing that she was getting away from a “toxic” work environment.
The county last week posted a shortened version of her resignation letter on its website — after deleting her criticism of the department and Berkeley County Central Dispatch/911 Director Mary Kackley.
Berkeley County Council Attorney Norwood Bentley acknowledged the change on Monday, saying the county posted a “redacted version.”
He said the full original email wasn’t released, at least in part, because Dunleavy’s critical statements of Kackley “could potentially be the basis of an inquiry of Ms. Kackley.”
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 15, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
Obtain these three rights to implement FirstNet into your emergency response communications system
By Tim Nowak
One of the challenges observed after 9/11 concerned emergency response communications … particularly in the presence of a disaster. Congested zones, damage to the infrastructure, inconsistent platforms; these challenges are not only present during a disaster, but also on a daily basis for some communities.
Rush-hour traffic at 4 p.m., providing medical staffing at a professional sporting event, or shuffling through the aftermath of a hurricane or major storm – these are just a few of the seemingly “regular” instances during which many emergency services experience a breakdown in the communications network.
This article was written by Tim Nowak and appears in ems1.com dated July 10, 2019. To read the full article please click on the button below.
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by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 15, 2019 | Comm Center News
Bill to Reclassify 9-1-1 Telecommunicators Passes House as Part of NDAA
The 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act (911 Saves Act) sponsored by Reps. Norma Torres and Brian Fitzpatrick would direct the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reclassify 9-1-1 telecommunicators and dispatchers in the federal government’s Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) System.
The bill was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2020, which passed the House with a vote of 220-198. The bill will now move to the Senate for consideration.
Torres, who used to be a 9-1-1 professional, said on Twitter that she was pleased with the bill’s inclusion into the NDAA and the subsequent passage of the bill in the house.
“It’s an important first step to give the nation’s 100,000 public-safety telecommunicators their due and reclassify them as ‘protective service occupations,’ ” Torres tweeted.
The OMB currently classifies 9-1-1 dispatchers and call-takers as office and administrative support occupations. OMB declined to change the classification of those workers in 2017 and since then, public-safety organizations such as the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International have pushed for legislators to change the classification.
In a statement, APCO praised the inclusion of the 911 Saves Act in the NDAA but cautioned that the bill’s future is still uncertain.
“While a welcome development, the process forward for the NDAA is complex and uncertain,” the statement said. “It will require reconciliation with the Senate version, and the NDAA has many defense-related provisions in dispute.”
APCO said it would continue to support efforts to keep the act as part of the NDAA as it moves through the process, as well as efforts to pass the 911 Saves Act through the House and Senate as separate legislation from the NDAA.
NENA praised its members for the work they’ve done in contacting legislators to about reclassifying 9-1-1 professionals. The organization said 12,500 of its members have contacted legislators a total of 40,000 times about the issue.
“On behalf of more than 100,000 9-1-1 professionals across the nation, NENA: The 9-1-1 Association thanks Reps. Torres and every member of Congress who supported this important measure,” said NENA CEO Brian Fontes. “Our members have long advocated for an accurate statistical classification for 9-1-1 professionals to support critical research into the mental and physical impacts of 9-1-1 jobs. Now, the action moves to the U.S. Senate, where we hope all members will support this non-partisan, cost-free measure that reflects the respect and support the American public has for its 9-1-1 professionals, who answer more than 240 million calls for help every year.”
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