The challenges of emergency calls

Don't get lost yet.  I know the title prbably threw you off.  I actually do alot of thinking.  Sometimes as I lay my head onto my pillow in the evening to sleep my mind runs full speed with ideas for blogs and things I should discuss, then I fall asleep and forget them.  The voices are like story tellers.  They are the guide to how I write, and things sound better in my head than they do in actual text sometime.  I stand in the shower washing my body after I wake, and ideas roll through my head like a ball rolling down a hill.  They flood me with ideas, and excitement for the potential increase in readers.  I just wish I would actually record or take notes on what I am thinking when I think it.  The last few weeks have been relatively nice.  The weather is nice and warm, and things haven't been too awful bad.  I have had a couple annoyances with a few repeat offenders.  These folks seem to call about the same thing over and o...

So, this is the new blog format, I find it strange and am not sure I like it yet.  I find it quite plain and don't like all the white background. As a dispatcher you spend a lot of time thinking.  Thinking about issues with equipment, issues that callers have had, and hoping things go well for them and their family.  You think about things, it just comes with the job.  Don't lose me here yet, I am not going off on a tangent of emotions associated with dispatching.  It takes a toll on you over time, but you get used to, or do you ever really get used to it?  I always go home and sleep, but that doesn't mean I don't think about how a call went or wondering how I could improve.  I think that is what makes a great dispatcher different from a good dispatcher.  I don't consider myself great.  I feel I am still learning after only a few years.  There comes a time when you cross a point where dispatching becomes just like any other job and you...

I was going over some old EMS techniques and situations, and realized that I have lost it.  I lost much of my knowledge of functioning in an EMS system.  I can recall certain things, but I forgot things such as lead placement for the cardiac monitor.  I know it is said every day, but the old saying you either use it or you lose it is true, believe me.  I don't know where I should start this blog.  There are some things in life that area for sure, such as the seasons will change, and if it can happen it will, especially when you least expect it.  I can always expect a call prior to severe weather from Charlie.  Charlie is a middle aged single male in about his 50's who resides in a mobile home, with local TV, a police scanner, and several family members.  Charlie always calls to see what we know about the weather and if their are any warnings out.  I can also always expect calls from Carolina, complaining about the kids playing basketball ...

So, while trying to fall asleep earlier this week I thought to myself how interesting it is to work in a smaller community.  I was thinking about how many times you interact with your friends, neighbors and family as we work.  We handle their calls for help and send the required services in the same amount of time we would with anyone elses' family, neighbors, and friends.  Although some would argue and complain that because you work in a small community you would show more favor in how you send a response to calls to those you know.  I am not going to say that metropolitan areas don't do their jobs, or do have a personal relationship with their callers, but they just don't have the same connection.  I think those that live in a rural community have many benefits they never think of, they know their emergency service personnel, their dispatchers, their police officers.  You may never see the same officer in larger cities.  Small communities know strugg...