CIS Training for Dispatchers???

[JBE 328]

What are your opinions of the need to have Critical Incident Stress Debrief training/counselors in your dispatch force?? FDNY doesn't have them for us, and I doubt the city will fork over the money to train any of us.

Let me give you some background on this. As we all know, the events of September 11th messed a lot of people up emotionally and mentally. We were told to "Suck it up". We were offered what was billed as a CISD and the two counselors admitted right off the bat that they knew nothing of what we do. Good intentions, and no one can fault them, but not the help we needed at the time. Agencies who had counselors willing to assist us were rebuffed.

As a few of you know, aside from my obvious buffitude when it comes to FDNY, and a few departments up north, I am a HUGE LA County FD Buff. They and the departments around them have CISD Counselors ready to go. When the Ventura Mudslides occured earlier this year, they had at least two teams of counselors out there for the firefighters.

I think we need them. Not for the beyond comparison events such as the 11th, but to have someone to reach out to when you have an incident where there is loss of life, or the activity of the day pushes you to a limit where you may go home and crawl into a bottle, or take the feelings out on your loved ones. Additionally, I was discussing this with a colleague whom I have tremendous respect for. The response I got was, "If they aren't emotionally strong enough to handle this job, then they shouldn't be here". I shook my head and politely disagreed as so not to lose the respect I have. Another dispatcher said, "If you don't know the person or if you're not hearing that persons last words, you're not that involved." Again I disagree.

Have it there and ready so we're not reading in the papers one of our own got locked up for something or got lit and wrapped up on the Saw Mill. Or worse. Do any of you out there have the safety net?? Or do you have the resources at hand to get the help you need when you need it?? If not, do you advocate the need for Dispatchers to be trained as counselors/debriefers for the times when it just hits the fan?? Discuss.

[WAS967 97]

I am a huge fan of the CISD system/team/process. I've used them for teams involved in bad calls. I've used them for myself. It's an excellent thing to have to try and mitigate the impact of a severe/extreme situation. I've sat there with Chiefs and said, maybe we should call in a CISD debrief. Had one say "no, we'll be okay". But in the end thankfully they did the right thing and called in the team. Some people may be too manly to sit down in a group and pour out the emotions. But it doesn't have to be a group. It can be one on one. Something. Anything. Bottling up the emotions that an event like 9/11 can bring on is not the solution. Eventually it will build up and manifest itself in ways that even the strongest of us cannot predict. The only solution is to get help. The sooner the better.

Poo on anyone that says that dispatchers don't need it becuase they aren't there, they don't see it, etc. Crap. Ever sit on the other end of a phoneline while a histerical mother is screaming that her baby isn't breathing? Ever have to tell young kid how to do CPR on thier parent who just collapsed? There is a HUGE sense of being powerless as a dispatcher because you just wish you could teleport over the phonelines, so you could do something other than just talk or provide direction. I think CISD would be very valuable in these cases. I can only imagine the poor dispatcher that had to sit there and listen to the cries of those firefighters who were trapped in that burning building earlier this year only to hear that they had to jump, some of them to thier deaths. :sad:

[PC414 0]

Dutchess has an excellent 12 member County Critical Incident Team which includes several dispatchers - the ultimate goal there is to incorporate the entire chain of providers (from call taker to dispatcher to fire, EMS, LE personnel and including those who treat in the ER). Not sure about 60-Control beyond a single dispatcher (may be others) who is instrumental as a trainer for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (www.icisf.org) and active with the (again excellent) Hudson Valley Critical Incident Team. At least one area hospital has been discussing ways to involve ER staff in the CIS intervention process. The Dutchess County Sherrif has several deputies trained in the ICISF method who work alongside the Dutches CIRT as well as provide peer support for those in law enforcement (LE, fire and EMS and dispatchers share similarities in the process but all have different nuances which can make the concept of trained peer support that much more complicated). The point? Only that many well-trained professionals at every level of emergency service and care recognize the need and are proactive about education and support in this area.

Regarding the nay-sayers ("Need to be emotionally strong," "not that involved," etc.), we sometimes hear the same kind of things initially when starting an intervention with fire and EMS personnel yet find, almost without exception, that minds and attitudes have been changed as we work through the process of the defusing/debriefing.

While theories are legion, it's clear that no one knows just why critical incident stress or post traumatic stress disorder hits people differently; there is little doubt, however, that the impact is life-changing and can be devastating. The "trigger" might be a single overwhelming event as 9/11, or it might be a smaller event in a relative sense. The drowning death of a young girl hit me. Why? No idea what the "hook" was - no daughter of my own, involved over 15 years with a significant number of other deaths from MVA's to fire-related which covered a wide age range. Is it cumulative (a straw that finally breaks the camel's back)? A victim which reminds you of a son/daughter/mom/dad? Someone you know? Probably a million different scenarios - all of which are very real and devastating to someone because they were involved in a critical incident ...

Anyway, to put a finer point on it:

Do (capable)dispatchers (who ARE able to handle their jobs well) ever suffer from CIS or PTSD? YEP!! And, perhaps more than anyone in the chain of caregivers, they are forgotten in the process.

Dutchess 911 has a tremendous team and SOP's which includes the dispatching staff. Putnam 911, where I work as one of the new dispatchers, hasn't addressed this formally but I can tell you that the resources available, from my instructor/friend at 60-Control to the Dutchess CIR Team to the ICISF itself will be mobilized as needed.

Whoa ... long ramble but important topic ...

PC414

[SEC92 0]

CISD SHOULD BE STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

FOR ALL MAJOR INCIDENTS. THE HUDSON VALLEY CISM TEAM IS MADE UP OF FIRE, EMS, POLICE, DISPATCHERS AND OTHER PEER COUNSELORS.

THE TEAM IS DISPATCHED THROUGH COUNTY FIRE CONTROL AND IS AVAILABLE 24/7