A critical incident occurred yesterday. Maybe you heard about it. An infant was shot dead in his stroller while out with his mom. Two teenagers were just arrested. This incident has shocked our sleepy (and normally safe) community. This incident shocked our first responders too.
Our CISM team was requested to assist the first responders. We joined the efforts in providing “psychological first aid” to those that were on-scene. I was requested to work the dispatchers. Dispatchers are the brave souls on the other end of the 9-1-1 call. “9-1-1: What’s your emergency?” They hear it all…I found out today.
“I’d like to order a pizza…,” I joked with them.
“Oh yeah, I’ve taken that call,” one dispatcher said. “We’re 9-1-1 … 4-1-1…anything you need at that moment…that’s what we are.” The people in this group are all female…girls actually. They are young; at least they look young. I ask them how long they’ve been on the job…”years” they each tell me.
“Not everyone could do this job,” one lady adds. I whole-heartedly agree. I inquire about the hardest parts of the job.
“We can’t see it,” she says. “All we get to do is hear it.”
This reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock, I say. They are so young, so I ask them if they know who Alfred Hitchcock is. They nod their heads. I read somewhere that Hitchcock movies were so terrifying because you don’t see the gore, you don’t see the horror … you only hear it happening. Hitchcock was brilliant because he knew that if he could simply supply the scene and sound that the brain would fill in the gory details and paint a far worse picture than he could ever film.
The dispatchers agree. The images in their minds are far worse than any scene on the street.
This point is important for those in crisis response: DON’T FORGET DISPATCH. The responders on-scene certainly have the “sensory information” that impacts the stress response. But the dispatchers have their imagination…and, as Hitchcock understood, the mind is capable of imagining something far worse than reality.
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Thank you so much for posting this. Dispatchers often suffer from a lack of closure to the calls they take, even going so far as to suffering from PTSD. I have been dispatching for many years and things are getting better. Debriefings now include dispatchers and that is a truly great thing.
Thank you so much disp4324 for commenting on our post. It was my honor to provide support to my local dispatch. Please let me know what more CSS can do to support you all and spread the word for providing immediate and on-going support to Dispatchers everywhere. I’m at dorie@crisissupportsolutions.com.
Thanks again for leaving a comment!!
There’s actually some research out about dispatchers suffering from Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder–essentially, PTSD from watching/hearing about someone else’s suffering. It’s a major issue for emergency communications people; thanks for posting about this.
Hi aedrjournal: Thank you for leaving a comment. I absolutely agree with you that Dispatchers can suffer – and are at risk of suffering – from PTSD. Although I haven’t heard of potential secondary PTSD – but please feel free to share research or a link so interested readers (like me!) can learn more…
I have worked with Dispatchers following a critical incident and have seen some begin to present symptoms of posttraumatic stress (30 days or longer would make PTSD). Just because Dispatchers do not see, smell, taste, & touch the event – they still experience the event through sound. Keep in mind that there are several symptoms for the diagnosis of PTSD and the first being: Experiencing the Event.
Secondary Posttrauamtic stress (made popular by the amazing work of Dr. Charles Figley with “compassion fatigue”) is exposure of the event through a “second-party”. Dispatchers experience the event – NOT second hand – but FIRST hand…as the event unfolds. I am very interested in learning more from you on this. I hope the conversation continues. Be well!!