The challenges of emergency calls

The past month has started a rapid downward spiral, not totally on me.  I thought things were going good, we were almost to the point of being fully staffed, it was kind of exciting.  And then IT happened.  One of the rather new rookies had a bad day, I mean it was bad, but not terrible.  They fumbled, they struggled, but they made it out at the end of the day, as well as everyone they sent.  But they complained that it was a terrible day and they were not coming back.  The next day was a new day, they showed up.  They did the job they were paid to, the one they were hired for, and went on with the day like the day before had not been any issue.  Then it happened I was off and got a message to call in when I had a chance.  I called in and the supervisor informed me that the employee had quit and was no longer on the schedule so it would affect the entire schedule.  I was asked if I could take any other shifts, I reluctantly drudged thr...

It seems as the temperatures start to change, so do attitudes among co-workers.  Its almost like the cooler weather triggers animosity.  The simplest of things can trigger someone.  Lately things have been kind of that way anyways.  We were in the process of training one new dispatcher, and he was not quite up to par, and it seemed like everything resulted in a review of how he was handling things, from trying to field calls himself, to just down right ignoring important details from callers.  Then at at some point he decided to quit, as we were just barely ready to release the trainee who was hired before him.   So now we are short staffed again, as such as been the norm for about the last 2 years off and on.  I don't think administration has anything to do with it. Eh, well I actually do.   The past year we have seen a major shakeup.  We saw not only a change of leadership in the agency, we also experienced changes of leadership o...

Lately I have been down a bit.  I neglect my blog and know it's the one place other than my Twitter that I can be open.  I have handled a month of suicide attempts, one tried at least a few times.   Of all the years I have been dispatching and involved in emergency services this has weighed hard on me.  I took it home, I thought about it for days.  I never did anything wrong and they all received the help they wanted.  There comes a time things just bother you more than other.