Finished yet another busy week in academy training. Got certified to handle medical calls (aced the test, so that’s nice). Did lots more call analysis as I heard previous calls, made my own decisions, and then went over them with my trainer and classmate. I aced a test, but still need to ingrain a lot of this material into my mind so that it’s second nature. Fortunately, there’s a lot of overlap. If someone’s unconscious and not breathing, I should code it as a cardiac arrest, but if I tagged the same criteria on the pediatric, trauma, or other cards, the result is the same—we send a paramedic. The system recognizes that calls are not always cut and dry, but if someone’s physiologically unstable, we want to send the best help for them.
Had some interesting conversations with my trainer and our operations supervisor, both of whom had words of wisdom. Our supervisor isn’t above a little teasing, but warned me that when I’m working with trainers on the floor, some of them might not accept that sort of thing. Not because they don’t have a sense of humor, but because I haven’t earned my place yet.
I totally get that.
Veteran dispatchers can, when nothing is happening, watch the silent TVs we have on the walls, read books, or play with their phones.
Rookie dispatchers can’t even take their phones out if we’re not on break/lunch.
Again, I get that. We have more important things on our mind than Facebook. We should act like that.
Fortunately, the supervisor also said he sees that I’m very studious and serious, that I’m open to criticism and feedback, and says he expects me to do great at our agency. He knows I want this to be a career and considers it likely to work out that way.
But there are no givens. Put in my time in the trenches and I’ll be “one of us.”
Someday.
I’m off for the next five days due to the vagaries of scheduling. When I go back, it should be for my final week of academy. After that, it’s on to call-receiver training (taking actual calls). I can’t wait!
911 Dispatches 