Within the Trenches is back with episode 57! This is just one of several episodes recorded last week during the Indiana NENA state conference. In this episode I sat down to talk with Heather and Kelly, dispatchers out of LaGrange County in Indiana and they received one of this years Team Work Awards. We look at how they got started in 9-1-1 and how they played a major part in a situation where a woman was taken hostage in Michigan and ended up in Indiana. The suspect was a prisoner who had escaped from custody out of Ionia County.

This is a must listen so check it out and share! As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

Episode topics –

• How Heather got started in 9-1-1
• How Kelly got started in 9-1-1
• Team Work Award
• News coverage

Within the Trenches is back with episode 55! This is just one of several episodes recorded last week during the Indiana NENA state conference. In this episode I sat down to talk with Rob, Director of Vigo County Central Dispatch and North Central Regional Director of National NENA and Terri, Director of Fayette County Communications, NENA Central Region Vice President and Director of Indiana APCO. We took a trip down memory lane while laughing until our stomachs hurt and our eyes watered and stung. It’s an episode you don’t want to miss so listen and share!

For more information on Indiana NENA please follow the links below. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com

Indiana NENA – Web | Facebook | Twitter

Episode topics -

• How Rob started in 9-1-1
• How Terri started in 9-1-1
• NENA awards
• Continuing education for 9-1-1 dispatchers

Hello everyone! Within the Trenches is back with episode 53 featuring Ed, the Director of Bartholomew County 9-1-1 Center and President of Indiana NENA. The show is recording on location from the Marriott East in Indianapolis, Indiana for the annual Indiana NENA conference. In this episode Ed shares his dispatch experience, switching from dispatch to being an on the road state trooper and eventually becoming the director at Bartholomew. This is just one of several episodes coming up this week from the Indiana NENA conference so stay tuned for more.

This episode is sponsored by Indiana NENA and INdigital telecom. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com!

Episode topics -

• Ed's start in dispatch and switch to law enforcement
• Dispatch training
• How officers would benefit from sitting in dispatch
• Continuing education through NENA

Hello everyone! Within the Trenches is back with episode 52 featuring Jeff, the Director of Monroe County Central Dispatch and 1st Vice President for Indiana NENA. The show is recording on location from the Marriott East in Indianapolis, Indiana for the annual Indiana NENA conference. In this episode Jeff shares his dispatch experience, the importance of continuing education, what the general public knows or doesn’t know about 9-1-1 and some advice to new and seasoned dispatchers. This is just one of several episodes coming up this week from the Indiana NENA conference so stay tuned for more.

This episode is sponsored by Indiana NENA and INdigital telecom. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com!

Episode topics -

• Rising through the ranks 
• Memorable dispatch moments
• Continuing education through NENA

Hello everyone! Within the Trenches is back with episode 51 featuring David, the Director of Kosciusko 9-1-1 in Indiana. The show is recording on location from the Marriott East in Indianapolis, Indiana for the annual Indiana NENA conference. In this episode David shares his dispatch experience and how he worked his way up to the position of director of his center. We also touch on text-to-9-1-1 and his experience thus far. This is just one of several episodes coming up this week from the Indiana NENA conference so stay tuned for more.

This episode is sponsored by Indiana NENA and INdigital telecom. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com!

Episode topics -

• David - from dispatch to director
• text-to-9-1-1
• Why callers would rather text than call

Within the Trenches is back with episode 50! The show has come a long way since the Kickstarter campaign. Whitney and I have spoken to dispatchers, leaders and educators within the dispatch community. The show has also been present for different conferences and the first one was last year at the Mini-C conference in Boca Raton Florida.

Tom with the Cool Kids of 9-1-1 invited the show to be there on one of the days to do interviews. The hospitality was excellent, the people were awesome and inspiring and I can’t thank Tom enough for the invite and exposure. This year the Mini-C will be on April 7^th – 11^th from 0800 – 1700 and one of the dispatchers attending this year is our special guest on today’s episode.

In this episode I spoke with Dana from Sumter County Sheriff’s Department. She shared her dispatch experience with me as well as her experience at last years Mini-C. This year she will be attending all week and will be posting on her social media outlets as the conference goes on so make sure to check her out at the links below. Dana also had a spotlight feature with Public Safety Communications and you can find the link below as well. This is a must listen episode so make sure to listen, share and check her out!

As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com!

The Cool Kids of 9-1-1 – Web | Facebook

Dana – Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Article spotlight

Tweet Hastags for the Mini-C - #MiniC2014 #CoolKidsof911

Episode topics –

• Text to 9-1-1 platform texTTY
• How Dana got into dispatching
• Dana’s dispatch experience
• The Mini-C conference

Woo! Within the Trenches Podcast is back with episode 49 and I would like to welcome back Whitney! She has been gone for some time and rather than spoil the surprise I will let you go ahead and listen to her reveal it. In this episode we share some personal stories along with what happened on my trip to Marquette Michigan for work. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to go back. Towards the end we touch on Kari's Law and future episodes. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com and follow the links below to 'Like' Kari's Law on Facebook and sign the petition on Change.org. 

Kari's Law - Facebook | Change.org

Episode topics -

• Whitney's reveal
• Marquette or Bust
• Future guests/topics
• Kari's Law

Welcome to a brand new episode of Within the Trenches. It has been a very busy week but I'm back! In this episode I sat down with Missy and Greg of Three Rivers Ambulance Authority (TRAA.) I met them during a training session a few weeks ago and I was impressed with them as well as the rest of the dispatchers and agency as a whole. We shared stories about their career, what High Performance EMS stands for and what it takes to run the agency. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com and don't forget to check below for links to our podcast promotion featuring, highperfomanceems.com. 

Also remember that tomorrow is the day that the No 9 Needed campaign asks that you change your social media profile pictures to the No 9 Needed logo in support of Kari's Law. For more information on Kari's Law please follow this link. 

High Performance EMS - Web | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

Episode topics -

• Missy's beginning
• Greg's beginning
• What is High Performance EMS
• An overview of TRAA
• What it takes to dispatch

Good afternoon and this is episode 47 of Within the Trenches. It has been a couple of weeks since the last episode and I couldn’t wait any longer so I decided to record an episode. I wanted to keep it light so I pulled some 9-1-1 calls from YouTube. I pulled a couple from a channel that belongs to AmericanPride1234 and they are awesome! If you get the chance make sure to check out the channel and subscribe. I have been pretty busy with work lately and one of the weeks I was on the road I got very sick. I made sure to share the story so I hope you enjoy it.

There are more new episodes coming up so stay tuned! As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com

Episode topics –

• Stomach bug on the road
• 9-1-1 tapes –
• Kid calls 911 for help with math
• Guy calls 911 for pot question
• Guy gets junk stuck in pump
• Joe vs. Deer 911 call

Today’s episode of Within the Trenches touches on the topic of stress and physical and mental issues in 9-1-1. As 9-1-1 dispatchers, we have heard it all. We have taken every call from the most ridiculous to the most horrific. If you’re like me, the calls that involve children are the ones that affect you most. I once took a call from a nine-year-old girl who had come home from school and found her mom passed out in the living room. She told me that her mom was not moving and her face was blue. I told her how to do CPR and she did it the best she could until help arrived. Although she did a great job her mom had already passed. She had had an overdose and died long before her daughter got home. I remember the little girl being scared but never lost it. Maybe it was the shock of the situation. Whatever it was, it’s a call I’ll never forget.

Towards the end of my dispatch career I began to feel burnt out. I enjoyed my job but the politics, long hours, workplace drama and stress began to eat at me. It’s something that people don’t understand unless you have done the job. The stress can be so great that some dispatchers have crashed and burned. How come no one, other than the dispatchers themselves, have noticed or addressed this? It’s something that wasn’t out there before but within the past year there have been numerous news articles covering the constant stress and physical and mental state of 9-1-1 dispatchers.

Whitney and I have done episodes in the past about CISM and EMDR but I wanted to do another one. In this episode I spoke with Michelle, assistant professor with Northern Illinois University who has been doing research on 9-1-1 dispatchers for the past few years concentrating on mental and physical health. There is a lot to learn in this episode. There was so much we could touch on that we are going to do a second episode to cover the rest. Michelle’s research is ongoing and if you would like to participate you can do so by clicking the link below. There is also a description. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

911 Telecommunicators Study -

We are currently looking for participants to enroll in our current studies. We are recruiting experienced TCs (at least one year of experience as a TC) and they can be currently working, have left the occupation, or retired from the job.  Experienced TCs can complete a 1.5-2 hour survey online that they complete in multiple sittings. We are also doing follow up surveys that are much shorter (45 minutes) at 6 months and 12 months after the first survey. For each survey completed, the TC gets entered for a chance to win one of two $100 cash prizes. There will be three drawings - one after we're finished collecting the baseline survey, one after we're done collecting the 6 month survey, and one after the 12 month survey. The survey is hoping to get a good estimate of the psychological and physical health complaints of TCs and is a follow up to the pilot project. We're also hoping to understand much more about what predicts poor health over time for this population.

We also hope to enroll trainees. They just have to be within their first 4 months of training. These participants complete a 1.5-2 hour survey and get $30 for completing it, as well as a chance to win one of two $100 cash prizes. In addition, we do shorter follow up surveys (45 min in length) and hold drawings for each of the subsequent time points that a trainee completes the survey. We hope that they will stay enrolled, even if they do not complete training or leave the job. The survey is looking at factors that predict adverse mental health and job attrition over time to help improve training efforts, hiring practices, and telecommunicator well-being.

Episode topics –

• Blue Mazda call
• Michelle’s intro and research interest
• What elements contribute to PTSD
• And more