911 dispatchers: Always on call, handling chaos in crashes

 

Part one of a three-part series -

Megan Miller

The dispatchers who take 911 calls about crashes on Kansas roadways are the crucial links in emergency responses. Without them, help wouldn’t arrive in time. How do they do it?

Three dispatchers with Hutchinson-Reno County Emergency Communications are sharing their stories in the series. This first article focuses on Megan Miller, Reno County 911 dispatcher and interim supervisor:

For Miller, a worst-case situation is getting a 911 call about a crash with critical injuries in a remote spot -- far from the nearest sheriff’s deputy.

When that happens, it’s “all hands on deck,” she said. A call like that requires her and other dispatchers assisting her to direct every needed emergency unit as quickly as possible by the most direct route.

In that situation, she reminds herself, “Take a deep breath.”

“We all work really well together,” she said of the dispatch team. While she’s taking that call from a victim or witness, typing the information, she has a partner who will “get my guys headed there. If I didn’t catch something, then my partner can type it in.” Through the dispatchers’ shared experiences, she said, “A lot of times, we can read each other’s minds.”

When the initial call about the crash comes to her, she clicks a button to start the call; as each first-responder unit gets assigned to the call, it gets recorded. Time stamps keep a timeline of how the call gets handled.

With lives at stake, Miller said, "It’s hard not to get emotionally attached." But she’s been doing the job for almost five years. She knows that after a tough call, "I can take a breather. When it comes to kids, that’s a rough one.” Her son is 16, starting to drive, so she understands a parent’s fears, a parent’s heartbreak.

She knows: “If you get hyped up in the call, the caller gets hyped up in the call. You have to keep them calm and have that calming voice. You just tell them you’re going to be there with them until my help gets there. Afterwards, you can go scream and cry -- and then process it.”

Even though Miller isn’t at the scene, she can see it play out in her mind from the dispatchers’ room. “You can hear it in the responder’s voice when they’re on scene. We may not get to see it, but it’s hard enough.”

She’s heard a mortally injured person cry out for help. And then -- “not hear them anymore.”

“When I first started,” Miller said, “I didn’t even know if I could do it because I’m such a kind-hearted person.” But she realized she could use her empathy to calm people in bad situations.

No one knows when they might find themselves in a traffic emergency. Three things that Miller would want people to remember:

1. The first question the dispatcher asks is “Where is your emergency?” So pay attention to where you’re traveling. Try to take a mental note of that last exit you passed.

2. Make sure your children are in properly installed car seats, or if they are older, that they are buckled up – on every single trip.

3. Before you start blurting out details when the 911 dispatcher answers your call, she said, “Let us ask the questions,” in the order the dispatcher asks them. That helps the dispatcher sort information in way to get help there sooner. Realize that the dispatchers are not being rude when they keep asking certain questions until they hear the answers they need – to help you.

If you’re having a hard time calming down, Miller said, the dispatcher might say, “Take a deep breath. And we’re going to do this together. I’ll be able to help you answer these questions if you listen. I will ask you the questions, the most important questions, so you don’t have to think so hard, to steer you the correct way.”

 

Article written by Tim Potter, KDOT Public Affairs Managers

Photo courtesy of Hutchinson-Reno County Emergency Communications