911 dispatchers: Always on call, handling chaos in crashes - part 3

 Part three of a three-part series -

Karen Ridgway

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 third article focuses on Karen Ridgway, part-time call taker, previous 911 dispatch supervisor:

A motorist might suddenly find themselves overturned in a ditch on an isolated stretch, maybe in the darkness, not sure which highway they were traveling on, which town they were approaching after they’ve called 911 on their cell phone.

So, Ridgway wants motorists to understand that it’s always good to have some understanding of the route they’re traveling on. A dispatcher can use technology to locate a person calling on a cell phone. But the location application on the phone might be disabled. Once a dispatcher knows the location, they can immediately send emergency responders.

Dispatchers use a scripted set of questions designed to get the key information they need. So besides the location, they’re asking for the person’s name, medical information – and about any injuries. Other questions: Are you blocking traffic? Because if you are, that can cause another crash. Are there hazards, like gas spilling from the vehicle? If a semi is involved, what is the load? Because that can determine if the emergency crew needs to be prepared for hazardous materials.

If it’s an accident at night that’s not easily visible, the lone call to 911 might be from the victim. If it’s during the day, 911 dispatchers can get 20 calls all at once on the same accident. Ridgway prefers that witnesses not assume that someone else has called 911. It’s better to call.

Should you try to help an injured person?  “If you can do so safely,” Ridgway advises. If the crashed vehicle is in the middle of a highway, she might ask the witness calling to park their vehicle on the crest of the hill, with flashers on so approaching motorists can slow down and avoid colliding with the wreckage. She wants people to stay off the roadway so they don’t become another victim.

Even with their script, dispatchers must be able to improvise. “No two situations are exactly the same, so you have to have that critical thinking,” Ridgway said. “There’s a lot of gray.” Factors like weather can weigh heavily on the dispatcher’s mental calculations. If it’s 10-degree cold, an injured person in an isolated area also faces the risk of hypothermia.

And human factors weigh in: The dispatcher sometimes encounters callers who are distraught or angry. There’s a method for handling that, Ridgway explained: “You don’t raise your anxiety to reach theirs. If they’re screaming, you don’t yell back. You actually lower your voice.” And it takes a calm persistence: “I need you to tell me where you’re at,” she might have to keep asking.

“You say the same words over and over until they listen,” she explained. “Eventually that repetitive calmness gets to them. They may be screaming, ‘My husband is trapped! My husband is trapped!’”

“You bring them down to your level … voice and tone.” Sometimes she might redirect the person away from the thing “that’s got them terrorized.” She might ask them to stand safely to the side of the road and wave for help.

“It’s surprising how much anger there is out there on the road,” Ridgway said. “We have accidents that turn into disturbances.”

Certain things a dispatcher asks will grab the attention of all the other dispatchers hearing the call. One is: “Can you tell me if they’re breathing?” And if the answer is no, the other dispatchers immediately recognize the stakes. “When they hear that, they know it’s a hot call,” Ridgway said.

Dispatchers get certified in talking people through how to handle medical emergencies before help arrives. “I personally have delivered two babies” – over the phone -- by directing someone at the scene on how to do it, she said. “You have to be able to give the directions.”

A person not breathing is a dire situation. “The minute they say someone is not breathing, you just tell them – ‘We need to do CPR.’ “If you tell me he’s not breathing, I don’t care what his injuries are.” And she guides them through what could be the most stressful moments in their lives. “I’m going to tell you exactly what to do,” Ridgway will tell the person.

She will direct them to get the patient onto a flat surface where they can begin CPR. That might require having to drag someone out of a vehicle onto the grass. The person might argue that they can’t do it, but Ridgway said that’s when she turns into a “drill sergeant” and firmly prods them to do what must be done. “And then we walk them through it.”

If a semi driver is unresponsive, slumped over up in the cab of the truck, she said, he needs to be pulled down onto a spot where he can be revived. “He’s got to have that CPR, or he’s not going to survive.”

 

Article written by Tim Potter, KDOT Public Affairs Managers

Photo courtesy of Hutchinson-Reno County Emergency Communications