The challenges of emergency calls

Another year and yet we are back to the same habits we have followed in the past.   This year I am already burned, and I only know the situation happened because the coworker told me about it.  I came to work feeling better than the prior few days.  I have had a session of down in the dumps days.  I really couldn't pinpoint what one thing caused it.  Then I get to work and the new guy who has been here less than a year, says he oddly had been approached by the chief about putting in his application for officer quickly and was handed an application.  I kind of played it off like it doesn't bother me.  But it does.  The prior chief told me I couldn't use dispatch as a stepping stone so I never tried and it's a sore topic for me.  We just got the trainee we are training ready to be on their own and now we look to cause more overtime taking a trained dispatcher out of the seat to fill an officer slot?  The applicant pool for officers al...

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.

Another year approaching the threshold entering new explorations, new challenges, the same game.  Coworkers have came and went a few more than normal this past year and likely more  any day now.  I am starting to think more like a go with the flow person and less with a complainer attitude. I won't say this year was easy, there were many 12 hour shifts and shift coverages due to long term illness and resignations.  Nearing 10 years in the seat behind the headset and at times I feel unwanted, unrespected.  Then a day comes up where my officers thank me or have a discussion with me about nothing.  But it shows they are people to who maybe forget dispatchers need asked if they are ok too. 

Communication is kind of a common complaint, be it for dispatch or for field units.  And in all reality its not only about radios, and phones.  Its about the lack of ability for management to communicate as well.  I always find it odd, that they expect employees to be prompt, and attend certain events, meetings, etc.  But often they forget to send out the memos, or forget to click send on that text message that has important information.  Yet when it comes to making sure they respond to a social media post, or respond on the radio for calls.  Communications should be up there on the list, of areas of improvement for everyone of us.  We should be aware of what is going on and respond appropriately.  I found myself in an odd situation recently, I had received an invite to an event, not something I was planning on going to, and then out of nowhere I received a text message saying they needed my RSVP asap.  I was in a state of shock, like I was...

What is a hobby?  Is it eating, or even doing nothing?  I recently was reading a profile on someone, that included likes,dislikes, and hobbies.  I thought to myself, if someone ever actually questioned me on my hobbies, would I seem ignorant? I sat down to check my view counts on a couple of my blogs, and realized a blog was probably overdue.  I have mentioned and will probably "beat the dead horse" so many times about never actually penning the words or ideas I feel when I should.  But tonight I feel driven.  I likely won't feel like this anytime soon again, but here goes nothing.  So as a people we have developed hobbies, likely out of being bored.  I know I said the B word, don't back out on me yet.  Our ancestors, were a busy people, they stayed busy, they didn't do anything the lazy way, they didn't have technology to make it easy or quicker.  At some point in our development times became less busy, (I know is that really possible...

Today is no different than any other holiday. We have dealt with drunks,drunk drivers and family fights.  I think I understand why it happens near the holiday season.  It's all because of the stress of money and having to deal with family members you only see a few times a year.  I am not without issues either.  My own family treats me different because I expressed my opinion that my sister could not come to a family function at my residence.  This upset my mom who now barely talks to me.  It's bad and upsetting.  But my sister is all drama and rumors.   I have had such a better second half of the year without dealing with her.  Work is bad enough drama wise.  We have an employee who never should have been able to keep their job with their parent being an upper supervisor over our direct supervisor.   Everything they want and ask for they get.  And whenever they tattle about bogus things then it comes back as coming ...

We all love new stuff right?  There is always that excitement when we unwrap or open that new package that has just arrived.  And then the anxiety set in when we actually try to use or operate that device or item.  The stress over doing something wrong, pushing the wrong button, breaking a piece during assembly or adjustments.  Tonight is no different.  We received some updated new equipment bringing us very high tech.  I have been excited about it early on, as it got busier today I struggled.  I had decided earlier in the shift I was going to be open to it, although it would hurt my normal routine.  I will adjust.  I didn't mind it and spent several hours trying to determine if I was handling it properly. I at one point decided that I wanted to go without it for a while slowly breaking myself in.  And then I realized how much easier after I had gotten used to it, that it actually was with little struggle.  I ended up a short time...

Normalcy, it means a state of normal, the common, the same, nothing new.  I have never said there was any normality or normalcy with this job.  It's kind of what makes it interesting. When I first started dispatching I came in, and came to work scared, scared not because I didn't feel like I could do the job or was alone.  I was scared of what that next call would be.  I like to be prepared, I like to plan, and schedule things.  Emergency situations are the total opposite of how I like my personal life to be.  I like to know my bills will be the same amount every year, I stress over abnormal bills, or differences.  It throws off my normalcy! I spend many shifts finding entertainment for myself, much like this blog.   Blogging about the happenings of the shift or lack there of.   I find myself upset on some shifts, that I don't have things to do.   Then I find myself upset on other shifts because I fix the mistakes from the other shif...

There is an old tradition for the public to go totally wild during certain times of the month and year.  These typically involve a large white ball in the sky displayed during the night, as well as during any national holiday.   I had never really believed it until my first come times having the holiday effect.  There are some holidays which typically result in more EMS calls, such as Thanksgiving, and Easter, often due to heart issues.  Then you have the holidays and unofficial instances that cause police issues.  These are commonly Super Bowl Sunday, Saint Patrick's Day, and of course the 4th of July.  These are all a toss up for fights, alcohol poisoning, or a variety of other calls.  This holiday was no different.  We had a called in bar fight.  We had an over consumption of alcohol.  We had a fight at a convenience store.  It was a barrel of fun, not!

             This phrase seems to pop up quite often.  I found myself just this thing and actually laughing when an officer directed me to log an issue that a citizen advised him of. I had taken a 911 call for a possible intoxicated driver, a dark colored Camaro, driving 45 mph, with it's high beam headlights on and swerving all over the roadway.  I give this call to the county.  They later locate and stopped the suspect vehicle to find out the driver is not impaired, but having issues with the ball joints and its causing issues with steering and handling.   This situation is as dangerous as being intoxicated, its not safe to have a vehicle with such issues on the road knowing it has problems. So its mid week, and it started off rather calm.  They had already been dealing with an ongoing yearly issue.  Each year a farmer complains about people parking along his field which borders the city ball diamonds.  And each...

You know I told you last post that I said the word, one of many which is frowned upon, and almost a ritual to avoid, and well it happened.  Within a matter of about 20 minutes I ended up with 3 calls for service. 1st - caller is reporting that she heard someone messing around and beating on something.  She was inside a fenced in area smoking and heard it, so she yelled out and asked them what they were doing as she was attempting to see what they were doing and she saw someone run to a vehicle.  They jumped into a vehicle and left.  The caller did not know what they were messing with or if they had tampered with anything.  My officer responds and is unable to locate any vehicle matching the description given. 2nd - Caller is reporting that he got a call from a renter that about 2 hours prior someone he had told he would take some wood from, hauled the base of a tree over and dumped it in the ditch and then attempted to push it off the road with a van.  ...

So here we are another day of rather nothing.  I really intended to sit down and write something the other day when I posted a bunch of rants about the newbie.  It doesn't get any better than what is going on now.   Newbie has a family member who was pregnant, and it was not their first child.  They saw the need to make changes to the schedule and make trades to get the day off, obviously with no sick days to use, so they had to utilize a shift trade.  I think everyone here is has been down and morale is bad because of situations such as this.  We are now on the 4th new hire in the past 5 years.  I know this is nothing for some agencies who are what it appears as a rotating door. I at one point thought I would be writing out calls with generic details here, as well as "Live" tweeting calls as they came in.  But damn, I work at a slow agency.   Crap, I did it, something will happen now.  Just like in EMS, certain words were never to be...

I cannot express how busy my life has been, not a lot has changed.  I am still busy with work, like every other dispatch agency.  Its been over a year since I last posted, which is terrible and probably means that no one is still reading this blog, and that it is not being indexed as often as it could be. I have been contemplating the past week of writing.  I have been listening to podcasts while at work for entertainment, and was also thinking about "the book" I was writing at one time.  I have several pages of notes compiled into a document sitting on my desktop.  I buried it in another folder a few weeks ago thinking more about it.  I don't obviously have the several thousands required to get it published.  My only option will be hoping it will sell some copies on an E-book site. But back to the reason I haven't wrote anything.  I haven't been exactly open with my followers I prefer to be more anonymous.  But I am married and I have a...

I was sitting here packing up my personal belongings; my laptop, my charger, my cup and some notes of things for later in the day.  I remembered a time when I read blogs for enjoyment and slowly scanned for a few I remembered.  One of blogs I read basically just to be nosey about the writers life and no other reason is no more.  I realized as life changes or adapts we leave things idle in our life that were once almost ritual like.  Thinking back of social networks, email accounts and hobbies that have been lost and forgotten.  It could make your heart break at the struggles and longing for those hobbies and friends we left behind for other adventures be it a few days or months.  How long before we abandon that hobby and pile another one on the burned list?  Moving on to another topic, some people always wonder how someone obtains a job.  I have been asked and so have my family members on how I got my job.  I always tell them with my reputat...

I have very much missed blogging.  I have taken several months off, nearly 9 months blogger tells me.  I didn't abandon things here, I was confused, up somewhat distracted by other happenings.  I know a dedicated blogger sticks to it.  During last fall and winter I assisted on a little part time job a few days a month.  I am not sure where that money went, other than being spent, and nothing to really show for it, plus I am going to have to pay taxes on it later. I did experiment with Twitter, which I did find is easy for small rants, but I find difficulty in cramming my screams of attitude into the 120 characters.  Plus I feel shrinking down my words to jargon lose the affect of my actual rants and complaints. I am still alive, and dispatching.  I am still in it to retire, at least the rest of the year. I have had some real struggles that I have had to deal with this year.  I lost a family member which I took hard.  There have also bee...

When I first started working nights I always found something to do.  Maybe I was watching movies or reading magazines or watching stupid videos online.  As technology advances we become more bored by all our surroundings.  We want more, now and faster than before.  We have become a now and my way society as personalization and customization has taken leaps towards predicting our patterns and likes.  I find it hard to find hobbies which hold my interest.  But I always have something on my mind.  I can always sit down and type. 

I have worked shift work for a majority of my working life.  I have spent a majority of said time on 2nd and 3rd shifts.  I love the night, but the work volumes vary so much daily.  There is always something I can think of doing.  It does create ideas, but it creates issues.  When your mind wonders you get wild ideas to build things and do things which you might not normally do or suggest.  It might make some think you are insane or unusual.

Writing used to be something I was nearly regular on, and I do miss it.  The recent technology advancements for myself including a smartphone have left me busier and with less free time.  I am motivated into a few things right now, but I do stray now and then. I don't even know if anyone reads me, since no one ever comments or anything.  I am trying to get my book published.  It turns out there are online locations to assist you to publish online without the investment costs, and in ebook form such as amazon.   I really have wanted to get it out there.  I dont know if it will be of high enough quality to make much money but my hope is someone will enjoy it, learn about the EMS lifestyle and how it affects you.  Work has been, well I won't say it since that is a bad word here.  I cannot complain we will leave it at that.  I have started trying to improve on my dispacthing skills, obtaining more details that I know are important and that w...