LifeLine 911
In the rapidly-shifting world for First Responders where it seems that everyday the rules and norms are changing, there is one voice you can count on to give you the latest in Emergency News: that is LifeLine. The LifeLine911 podcast's mission is to discuss issues and stories related to Emergency response services, with specific emphasis on Emergency Communication. LifeLine911 is hosted by Erica Roberts, a veteran of over twenty years in the Emergency Communications industry and instructor of training techniques in an ECOMM environment. Our goal is for the podcast to be interesting to professionals within the field and welcoming to those who have an interest in it. To that end, we highly encourage those who have questions or if you would like to be a guest on the show to email us at LifeLine911Podcast@gmail.com with any questions you would like to have answered on the show.
Episodes
Look, up in the sky. It's a man. It's a bird. It's a... telecommunicator doing exactly what they were trained to do. Dispatchers and 9-1-1 operators are called upon to work difficult situations on a not infrequent basis. These men and women who don the headsets and answer the phones are trained to do their jobs to high standards, but sometimes these standards can slip when compliancy (that silent killer...
Each day, 9-1-1 operators work to help their communities by answering emergency calls placed to their centers. Most of these calls are typical burglar alarms, noise complaints, and other day-to-day incidents, but once in awhile they get a profound call which tests their abilities, knowledge, and even endurance. Nastacia Johnson was working an overtime assignment one day and had the opportunity to test her mettle as a ...
Throughout history, the division of language has created problems with communicating between two people their needs, wants, desires, and sometimes their emergencies. In today's world, where there are so many languages spoken, how can an emergency call center operate when there are callers who don't speak English needing assistance? Many 9-1-1 centers have turned to using third party assistance in the form of...
You dial 9-1-1 and are connected with an operator. You explain your situation and are informed help will be on the way. The minutes tick by and no police, fire, or EMS arrive on scene; have you been shortchanged? Did you call get cancelled accidentally? The most likely scenario is that your call was determined to be not as emergent as another call going on in the city. But why has this happened? This week we discuss t...
We all know that working in the field as a police officer, firefighter, or medic is an extremely challenging career that is entirely different than most other jobs; getting time off is hard, there are unexpected calls which force you to work passed you off duty time, holidays and celebrations are going to be missed. But even more challenging than this is to be married to someone who does this work; the stress and anxi...
Along the Gulf Coast, there is a county in Texas named Calhoun which recently went through a PSAP consolidation, joining the police department with the sheriff's office for 9-1-1 response. Patrick Schubert was tasked with heading-up these efforts and guiding his fledging PSAP through the gulf hurricane and inclement weather that the coast can experience. Patrick was also awarded Telecommunicator of the Year in 20...
In the last dozen years, law enforcement has had to contend with a new type of incident: Swatting. These types of calls involve someone making a false call to 9-1-1 in order to have police respond in force to fictitious events to either scare, harass, or sometimes even kill an unsuspecting victim. While it is illegal, and it does at the very least waste law enforcement resources which would better be spent elsewhere, ...
In all professions and aspects of life, there are rules which are unwritten in any manual but they are known to all. These are enforced by the collective unspoken agreements between coworkers on how many matters are to be handled: is there a lot of talking between co-workers, or is it quiet; are there potlucks every third Monday of the month; do you get to work right on the dot, or a bit early? Each of these are gener...
A critical part of ensuring that your team of emergency operators is capable of succeeding no matter the event which occurs is to take the time to perform period quality assurance on them. The goal is not only to find the faults with the call takers and dispatchers so that small errors and bad habits can be rectified, but also to find praiseworthy moments and highlight them. Join your host Erica as we discuss the vita...
Complaints on any job are commonplace across all industries, but they can be especially difficult to deal with in the world of emergency telecommunications. Oftentimes, those making the complaints can have suffered traumatic events which make them react differently to conversations than they normally would and to get irate more easily. However, it is the job of a public servant to do their best to serve the public and...
For emergency telecommunicators, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) offers a training called Center Management Certification Program (CMCP), which is designed for agency management. This training is a week long and involves lecture, roleplay, and hands-on training to inform students about the fundamentals of running their own organization. Recently, Erica had the opportunity to take this class and we wan...
Working remotely, or out of the office and at home, has become a popular benefit offered by many industries in the 2020s, with almost a quarter of the U.S. workforce participating in it. This new option to stay home from an office, avoid the drive into work, and the freedom that gives has proven to be very popular with many millions of people, but is that something that is feasible or even desirable for emergency tele...
The men and women who serve in the ambulances that rush to aid those in need of critical care have to deal with a plethora of split-second decisions which can mean the difference between life and death. Yet in some parts of the country, EMS personnel are not even considered to be first responders, making it difficult to hire, train and retain those capable of providing the life-saving care so desperately needed. We me...
In the world of first responders, the most pernicious affliction is that of the slow build-up of trauma over the course of a career. There are many times where those in this profession not only don't get the help they need for it, but in many cases don't even realize they have a growing disease. This trauma can manifest itself in ruined relationships with family and friends, depression, anxiety, and outburst...
When a major disaster strikes it can put a terrible burden on Emergency Communication centers affected by it, especially if the employees and building are put offline. But never fear! There are groups of telecommunicators who are prepared to leave their home jurisdictions and respond to disaster areas to aid and assist their fellow 9-1-1 operators to keep the center running and the public safe during these times of di...
In the United States, law enforcement areas of responsibility are often layered upon one another, providing for the occasional issue when it comes to deciding who will deal with a particular case. There is the federal level, the state level, the county level, and sometimes the municipality level of law enforcement all working in (hopefully) tandem with one another, but what happens when that harmony breaks down? In an...
Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs, for a police department are generally established, or at least blessed off on, by the agency's upper echelon of command. They operate as the rules for all of the employees to follow, but sometimes there can be disagreements in how those SOPs are applied. When this happens, telecommunicators can often find themselves in the middle of this disagreement, but how can that be navi...
The Covid-19 pandemic which struck the world in 2020 was a devastating blow to people around the world on so many levels. Lives were upended, norms were modified everyday on the fly, and the workforce for every industry was thrown into chaos. This was also the case for emergency services, where many PSAPs across the world faced unprecedented staffing issues as droves of people left the profession and few people joined...
In February of 2021, Winter Storm Uri descended upon the state of Texas, unleashing bitter cold in the subzero range as well as heavy amounts of snowfall. These issues brought the infrastructure of the state to the breaking point, leaving millions without power for an extended period of time as well as making many roadways impassable. This is that story told from the perspective of two Emergency Telecommunicators work...
Conversations around friends and family can often be joyful and filled with laughter, but there are usually topics which are avoided most times to help keep the peace; politics, religion, and sometimes even law enforcement. But, when you work as a first responder, and in law enforcement in particular, how can you best approach these subjects when they are brought up? Join your host Erica as we dive in to this thorny t...
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