911 dispatchers: Always on call, handling chaos in crashes

 Part two of a three-part series -

Sabrina Henry

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 second article focuses on Sabrina Henry, dispatch supervisor:

Henry remembers getting a series of calls from panicked witnesses who encountered a crash. A vehicle had gone off the road, leaving multiple victims. She managed to calm the witnesses enough to find out where they were and how many victims. It took a few moments “to get everybody to settle down,” Henry said.

As she gathered key information, another dispatcher was sending ambulance and fire department units. The dispatchers try to have two sets of ears on a call, to assist with handling other calls and to help get units dispatched at the same time they are gathering information. They want each caller to stay on the line so they can get the information they need.

A caller who is right there with a victim is a priority. They are the one who can provide direct information about the patient’s condition. And they are the one in the best position to begin first aid before rescue crews arrive. The dispatcher will direct them, step by step, in how to give first aid.

There are built-in challenges for the Reno County dispatchers. Besides the remote spots, far from rescuers, weather often is a factor -- either a risk to the patient or a hindrance for crews rushing to get there.

Henry remembers an instance where before crews could arrive, she had to direct someone to start first aid by checking for an open airway on a person who had been ejected from a vehicle and was unconscious. Checking for breathing is always a priority, no matter the other injuries. Finding an airway is a first step before someone can do CPR. In this instance, once EMS and fire crews arrived, they determined the patient was “code blue,” meaning they were in cardiac arrest. The patient didn’t survive.

Henry understands what’s involved in rescues partly because she was a paramedic for 20 years before she became a 911 dispatcher.

She understands that for many people suddenly caught in the chaos of a crash, it might be difficult to stay calm enough to provide a dispatcher the crucial details. Henry has a trick for communicating with them. When talking to a caller, she uses their name. “Jane, calm down,” she might say. “If we can use their first name, they’re listening to us maybe a little more.”

Just because she is dealing with one big crisis doesn’t mean 911 calls from other emergencies stop. So the dispatchers have to be able prioritize – or triage -- the emergencies as they come in. Each dispatcher must make a quick calculation: “Is this (new call) something that can wait?”

Although the dispatchers try to take a break, “get some fresh air,” Henry said, they must be good at dealing with the stress. “We’re able to work through the chaos.”

Dispatchers continue dealing with rescue crews and law enforcement after they get to the scene. A dispatcher might continue to deal with radio traffic from first responders for several hours while they are working at the scene. 

The dispatcher is a crucial link between the different agencies. A rescue crew at the scene might ask a dispatcher to call the hospital and alert them that they will be receiving a critically injured patient. A dispatcher might be the one to call a helicopter crew to transport and treat the patient on the way to a larger hospital. As part of that helicopter intervention, the dispatcher might need to make sure the ground crew and the helicopter crew are communicating on the same radio frequency. Throughout, the dispatcher also coordinates with law enforcement who close roads.

 

Article written by Tim Potter, KDOT Public Affairs Managers

Photo courtesy of Hutchinson-Reno County Emergency Communications