I have a really cool job. Whenever I tell anyone about my job, they want to know the details. They ask about the crazy calls I get, and how I can do it. People, in general, recognize that my job is hard. Whenever someone comes to my workplace to see how it's done, they leave usually saying, I could never do that.
It's true, not everyone can do my job. I am a dispatcher. For over seven years I have answered the call of 9-1-1 and assisted deputies on the radio. Daytime, nighttime, holidays and birthdays, I have spent attached to a desk.
Federally, I am considered nothing more than a secretary. I have nothing against secretaries or the work they do. I have done secretarial and administrative work before. Therefore, I can speak with experience when I say, the two jobs are nothing alike. The level of stress that comes along with being a dispatcher is life-altering. Studies have found it to be the same level of stress as those in the field and can cause PTSD.
The real kicker is that all those hours I put in, all those overnights, holidays and overtime shifts, are not recognized by companies who recognize first responders. Police Officers, Deputies, Fire Fighters, EMS responders, they are all seen as first responders. They are physically the first ones on the scene, that is true. Before they get there, someone has to answer the call. There is a voice on the line with the terrified, scared or hurting person until that first person arrives on the scene. That is what dispatchers do.
Dispatchers are more than a customer service line, we are there when people face the most terrifying moments of their lives. I have been on the phone with countless numbers of people when they have realized their loved one is not going to wake up. The calls from terrified parents when they don't know where their child has gotten off to. The person who is in a domestic situation and isn't sure if the right thing to do is to call the cops. I have been there for each one of them. I send my deputies, and then I pick up another line. The phone doesn't stop ringing, and after making sure someone gets to the family whose dad didn't wake up, I talk to someone who wants to report a loud car driving by.
Tell me that I am not a first responder when everything that happens goes through me and my crew. You can't. I respect each one of my guys out on the field for what they have to physically see. I have seen and imagined more than any of them on one shift. I paint a picture, for them to respond to, based on what the caller tells me. I see it, the pain, the suffering, the hurt, I imagine it all. In the end, I don't find out what happens, and I pick up another phone line.
It breaks my heart that dispatchers are not recognized as emergency personnel. It's not about the discount, it's about the respect. We are never seen, but ever constant, holding the Thin Gold Line. We are the First, First responders, don't forget us.
