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To Enable or Help
The allegations were clear: the parents were being sued for half of their estate and half of their retirement income. The parents sat there, perplexed and shocked. Ten years ago, this would not have occurred; no court in the country—or in the world—would have...
Beyond April Showers: The Unwavering Voice of 911 Dispatchers
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (NPSTW) – the week set aside to honor those emergency dispatchers who have answered the calls. We don’t always think about the 911 heroes when the gentle April showers start falling, and we look forward to the May flowers...
Celebrating the Successes of Dispatch
When I was a 911 director, I sat in on many interviews for candidates wanting to be hired as dispatchers. One of the questions we always asked of them was “Why do you want to work here?” You could probably guess the most common answer to that question: “Because I want...
The Reality of Leadership: Beyond “Lonely at the Top”
You’ve dreamed about it. You’ve worked toward it. You understood that achieving it, meant that you needed to BE it, before actually having the title. Finally… You did everything right. You reached the highest level in your profession that you can achieve, the top rung...
Small Changes That Make a Big Impact
It seems that we are inundated with wellness tips for dispatchers these days, and for good reason. Dispatchers prioritize work over their own health way too often. While it is an understandable affliction (after all, 911 can become an addiction that keeps us coming...
Workplace Bullying in the PSAP: A Toxic Issue to Address
Bullying is not a new phenomenon, in fact, founded in 2006, the month of October was dedicated to National Bullying Prevention by the PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. Workplace bullying is also not a new phenomenon and one would think that in our...
Lateral Hires
It’s not unusual to advertise with the vision of hiring an experienced person into the public safety environment. I’ve seen groups of police chiefs and PSAP Directors send verbal jabs at each other for stealing prized employees. Most of the jabs were said in jest,...
Reflections on the Healing Wall
Not too long ago, I visited the Healing Wall, a three-quarter size replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, commonly referred to as The Wall. I needed to go. I was connected to it indirectly through my friend David O. Chung. When I met David, known better as...
What does resilience have to do with 911 Mental Health
What does resilience have to do with 911 Mental Health Cherie Bartram The recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD or sometimes referred to as PTS) and mental health resilience has been a slow process in the United States. This issue first came to light...
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