By Violet Rymshaw It’s the elephant in the room…or more accurately, the elephant on the dispatch floor. Almost everyone has experienced it. No one likes to discuss it. It’s the delicate balance between dispatch and management. Now before going any further, I just want to stop and acknowledge all of the communications supervisors out there who are doing a fantastic job of building a team culture. It is no easy task! So many different personalities under one roof - usually wit

Even Those on the Mountaintop Need Support and Encouragement, Too.

By: Violet Rymshaw I’m a former telecommunicator, and I’ve just earned my doctorate in psychology. One of my goals in using that doctorate degree is to help improve wellness for telecommunicators, both on and off the clock. For my doctoral project, I asked telecommunicators to give me their ideas about changing the work environment to help them recover from the constant barrage of trauma involved with the job. By a landslide, the most popular suggestion was to create a “Quiet

On Friday, March 20, 2020, a 9-1-1 Telecommunicator (TC) with the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Illinois, tested positive for COVID-19, more commonly known as coronavirus.  We will guide you through the course of action that was taken in hopes that you may find it useful in preparation for any situation that requires the emergency evacuation of your PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point, or 9-1-1 call center).  To maintain the respect and privacy of that first responder, gen