I Tried 911 Dispatch
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FunTranscript
00:00 in my life, you're gonna be living it, you're gonna be doing it. You got this.
00:05 Every year in the United States, 911 is dialed 240 million times.
00:12 911, what's your emergency?
00:15 That's roughly 600,000 911 calls every single day.
00:21 Not too long ago, the concept of calling a universal, easy-to-dial emergency number
00:29 didn't even exist. Before the 1960s, callers had to memorize and dial the number of their
00:35 local police and fire departments if they wanted any chance at receiving help.
00:38 So in the year 2022, what actually happens when you dial 911?
00:46 Well, today I'm gonna see what it's really like to be the first first responder and the person
00:51 who picks up the phone when you dial 911. Challenge accepted.
00:55 [phone ringing]
01:00 Oh my gosh.
01:02 All right, Michelle, welcome to South Metro Fire Rescue Emergency Communication.
01:05 Wow.
01:06 This is where all the 911 calls come in.
01:08 This is incredible. There's so many monitors.
01:11 Yes, this is the ultimate gaming setup for adults.
01:15 And saving lives.
01:16 And saving lives. So we'll come over here and I'll introduce you to Sarah.
01:20 Sarah! It's so nice to meet you. I'm so glad you're here today.
01:23 Oh my gosh, Sarah, I'm so excited to meet you.
01:26 Come on in. Step into my office.
01:28 So yeah, like I said.
01:28 It really does feel like Mission Control.
01:30 Yeah, there's a lot.
01:31 Maybe let's start from the beginning. What happens when a call comes in?
01:35 I have 45 seconds that I need to get the address, the phone number,
01:39 and what's going on in order to get it over to get crews assigned to it.
01:43 So initially it's going to drop in on my call screen here. We're going to answer it.
01:46 It's going to come into our headset. And then from there, we're going to put in our problem nature.
01:50 You got fire alarms, you know, water.
01:52 Bomb threat.
01:53 Luckily, we've never had to put that one in.
01:55 Police assist, SWAT assist. We do a lot of SWAT assist.
01:58 I'm actually doing SWAT next month.
02:01 Seriously?
02:01 Yeah, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss that one.
02:04 I'm going to watch it.
02:04 We're going to get ready for a phone call, right?
02:07 We're going to, that phone's going to ring and we're going to answer it.
02:10 Right now? Yeah.
02:10 Wait, what? Oh my god.
02:11 Nope, not yet. You're good.
02:12 Let's put your, let's give you your headset. You've got a mute switch here.
02:15 Oh, so I'm going to be listening in when you take real calls?
02:17 Oh yeah, we're going to have you listen in for sure.
02:18 Okay, I'm going to be closed the entire time.
02:20 Can I push that? I shouldn't.
02:22 Don't push that unless you're ready to.
02:24 What's that?
02:24 This is actually your transmit button. So see, I've got it on mine.
02:26 Hello. Don't send anyone.
02:30 There is no emergency, agree. Okay.
02:32 All right, cool, right?
02:33 Oh.
02:34 Oh my god.
02:35 I have a prompt emergency.
02:37 What? Are you kidding me?
02:39 Yeah, so that's Centennial Air given us an air alert two for gear.
02:42 There's a plane problem?
02:43 Two jets.
02:44 Two jets.
02:44 So that's the call they just built and dropped it in.
02:48 Those are the-
02:48 In flight? So like, they're in the air having an emergency?
02:50 Correct. Sounds like their landing gear is not going down.
02:53 If they can't get their landing gear down,
02:55 it could cause a potential crash when they hit the runway.
02:57 So we're going to send our crews out.
02:59 There they are.
03:00 So we're listening to CentAir. They have their tower control.
03:03 Their port five is the ones talking right now.
03:05 So no low approach, still land if gear's up.
03:08 So they're just going to try and land.
03:11 Without wheels?
03:12 All right, so first jet down safely.
03:17 Landed, okay.
03:18 Yep. You know, you send a lot just in case and then like that, that jet landed safely.
03:24 We're waiting for the second jet, but we have as much there as we need.
03:26 This is another call coming in?
03:29 Yeah, so we're in-
03:29 While a plane crash is happening?
03:30 Correct.
03:31 South Metro Fire Rescue, what's the address of your emergency?
03:34 All right, call, are you there?
03:36 Ma'am, can you verify your address for me, please?
03:41 Perfect.
03:46 And I just opened up the garage door, I couldn't-
03:49 What's the phone number that you're calling from?
03:51 Can you tell me exactly what happened?
03:55 I was sitting in the garage drinking my coffee and I wanted to get up and I fell down.
04:06 All right.
04:07 On my knee and my elbow.
04:09 I want you to know I've got some help already headed to the apartment, okay?
04:12 Are you there by yourself?
04:14 Yeah.
04:14 Okay, I'm going to try and ask you just a couple of questions, but again, they're already on their way.
04:21 There is a big misconception when you call 911 that we're waiting to send help.
04:25 So as soon as we have your phone number, your address, and then we know what's going on,
04:28 as soon as we have that information, we're sending help out the door.
04:31 Again, again, help's on the way. You're welcome.
04:34 From now on, don't have anything to eat or drink, okay?
04:37 It might make you sick or cause further problems.
04:40 And again, I want you to just rest in the most comfortable position for you, okay?
04:44 Okay. Thank you.
04:46 You're welcome.
04:48 You're fine. That's what we're here for.
04:50 Okay, thank you.
04:53 You're welcome.
04:53 Bye-bye.
04:54 Wow. You went from supporting in a plane crash to helping an elderly woman who just fell.
05:04 Every day is different. I've delivered a couple babies over the phone.
05:07 What?
05:08 Yeah, it's pretty exciting.
05:09 It sounds...
05:11 You have instructed someone on how to deliver a baby.
05:13 Yep.
05:14 So I'm going to need to learn how to do all of this today.
05:18 Yeah, you can do it.
05:19 Okay.
05:19 Yeah.
05:20 All right, Michelle. So what we're going to get started with here is some of our pre-employment
05:25 tests that can directly relate to what you will do on the dispatch floor.
05:30 So what specific skills is this testing me on?
05:33 Data entry, memory recall. We also have some basic map reading.
05:37 So some multitasking.
05:38 There definitely is multitasking.
05:40 Got it.
05:41 Each time a new emergency message is presented, you will hear a distinctive sound.
05:47 It's going to give you a scenario.
05:51 And then I choose.
05:51 You have to select, is that a police response, fire response, EMS response, or utility response?
05:56 Okay, here we go.
05:57 Man throws lamp at girlfriend's head. I mean, that sounds EMS, but did it land?
06:03 Police.
06:04 Next question.
06:06 Electrical power lines falling down on highway.
06:08 Utility.
06:10 But it's in a highway.
06:11 Woman shoots at her husband during an argument.
06:15 That seems like an all of the above, to be honest.
06:17 You have to think the initial call.
06:20 Now that might lead to other things, but who needs to go right now?
06:24 You only get one choice.
06:25 Police, police, police, police.
06:26 Let's go.
06:29 I got them all right.
06:32 So as we go through other modules, this little screen is going to pop up
06:35 while you're in the middle of doing something else.
06:36 Stop.
06:37 Good luck.
06:39 Last name, Zachary.
06:41 Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y.
06:44 First name, Christina.
06:45 Everything that we've done so far is part of the call-taking process.
06:49 Someone may only get some information out and then either disconnect or hang up.
06:52 981-8752.
06:55 428-7516.
06:58 438-2861.
07:02 Girl, 438-2861.
07:05 Okay, I got all of them correct except one.
07:08 Not bad.
07:09 That was hard.
07:10 Yeah.
07:11 Final test, map reading.
07:13 Giving someone directions without Google Maps?
07:17 What?
07:18 What's the most direct route from your location to the Westridge Street entrance?
07:24 A police officer starts at the intersection of Gateway and 2nd.
07:28 Oh my god, my head hurts.
07:30 Obviously, we rely on a lot of technology,
07:32 but if that technology is not available or something fails, we have to go back old school.
07:37 I think D.
07:38 Incorrect.
07:40 Oh no.
07:41 Left on 2nd.
07:43 East on 2nd.
07:45 Right on Gateway.
07:46 Yes.
07:46 Yes.
07:47 How many blocks?
07:48 Girl, okay.
07:48 One, two, three, four.
07:51 First and Bromwell.
07:52 Yay.
07:54 90% accuracy.
07:57 Based on the modules you took today, you'd be a top candidate in moving on in the process.
08:03 Okay, cool.
08:03 You know your way around a keyboard.
08:05 You have to be a multitasker.
08:08 You have to be able to process information very quickly.
08:12 You have to be able to be mentally strong.
08:14 The calls that come in, sometimes they're easy calls and sometimes they're not easy calls.
08:19 We begin tonight with the headline that sadly is a familiar one.
08:22 A school shooting multiple injuries, this time outside Denver.
08:26 One of the things that probably hits me the most is the STEM school shooting.
08:30 This was the shift that was actually on for that.
08:33 You never think that it's going to happen to your center or to your district.
08:37 You know, I had to do a self-check and say, "It's time to show what we've trained for."
08:41 Okay, where are you in the school?
08:42 I'm in the middle school office.
08:46 Okay, are you guys secure?
08:47 I think so, yeah.
08:48 We're just in the closed door.
08:50 And we have a second shooter.
08:51 Copy, second shooter.
08:54 That's probably one of my proudest moments as the manager at the time of the center
08:58 is how we handled that call.
08:59 We heard the traffic going out over the PD channel.
09:02 So we had units responding to the incident before we even got notification
09:06 from the law enforcement agency, which significantly improved patient transport times
09:10 and the outcome of some of those individuals.
09:12 And so that's really the type of calls.
09:14 They don't happen often, but when they happen, we're on our A-game and we're ready to go.
09:18 There's calls where we're the last voice that that person hears.
09:26 So it's a stressful job.
09:32 We've come a long way in the support of our responders, right?
09:37 We used to never talk about this.
09:39 It would be a sign of weakness for me to kind of catch up on myself and shed a tear.
09:44 But I think it's raw and it shows that we're still human and it still impacts us.
09:49 The federal government actually refers to this position as a receptionist,
09:53 not taking anything away from what receptionists do,
09:55 but it's more than just answering the phone and transferring a call.
09:59 There's a lot more that goes into it.
10:01 Oh, we're back.
10:07 We are back.
10:08 It's so intimidating.
10:10 And now I have to stand here.
10:11 This is now your console for your final challenge.
10:14 So we're going to do some mock calls.
10:16 We've got some pretty good actors lined up.
10:18 And I have no idea what's coming.
10:20 Nope, no idea what's coming.
10:21 So it could be cat in a tree.
10:22 Absolutely.
10:23 It could be just like a day in my life.
10:25 You're going to be living it.
10:26 You're going to be doing it.
10:27 You got this.
10:28 Ready.
10:32 South Metro Fire and Rescue, what's the address of your emergency?
10:39 It's 9195 East Mineral Avenue.
10:43 919...
10:45 Hurry.
10:46 Do you mind repeating the address one more time?
10:50 Yes, 9195 East Mineral Avenue.
10:52 Now tell me exactly what's going on.
10:56 My wife's water broke.
10:57 I think she's going into labor.
10:58 You guys got to hurry.
10:59 Okay.
11:01 What should I do?
11:02 Are you with your wife right now?
11:06 Yeah, she's here right now.
11:08 She's laying on the floor.
11:09 How old is she?
11:10 She's 32.
11:11 Is she currently awake or conscious?
11:14 Yeah, she's awake.
11:15 She's kind of trying to breathe through it.
11:17 Okay, so she's breathing?
11:18 She's having a lot of pain.
11:19 Yeah, she's breathing.
11:20 Hold on, honey.
11:21 They're coming.
11:21 They're coming.
11:22 Just breathe through it.
11:23 Breathe through it.
11:25 I know.
11:26 And then that's...
11:26 You didn't mention that, so just hit your green arrow.
11:30 Perfect.
11:31 Now you can go with your questions.
11:32 How many weeks pregnant is she?
11:34 You're...
11:36 She's 38 weeks, I think.
11:38 38 weeks, third trimester.
11:39 Can you see any part of the baby right now?
11:43 Hold on.
11:44 Let me see if I can...
11:45 Yeah, I think it's part of the head.
11:49 Perfect.
11:53 Now just follow those.
11:54 Okay, so I'm sending the paramedics to help you right now.
11:58 Stay on line and I'm going to tell you exactly what to do next.
12:00 Okay, okay.
12:02 I'm ready.
12:03 Okay, so first of all, do not try to prevent the birth.
12:06 Do not have her cross her legs.
12:08 Tell her to not sit on the toilet.
12:10 Allow her to assume the most comfortable position
12:13 and have her take deep breaths in between the contractions.
12:16 Close your pants.
12:17 Just try to breathe through your contractions.
12:19 Just breathe.
12:19 It's okay.
12:20 Keep going.
12:20 Now, with each contraction,
12:23 you're going to place the palm of your hand against her vagina.
12:26 Okay.
12:28 Now apply...
12:29 Try to push the baby back in?
12:31 You are going to apply firm but gentle pressure
12:36 to keep the baby's head from delivering too fast and tearing her.
12:40 Too fast.
12:40 Okay, all right, honey.
12:41 I'm just going to put a little pressure so the baby doesn't come out too fast.
12:44 Okay, you're doing awesome.
12:46 Now, as the baby...
12:47 Are they coming?
12:48 They are coming right now.
12:50 And I'm going to give you a few more instructions.
12:52 Okay, so as the baby delivers,
12:54 you're going to support the baby's head and shoulders.
12:57 Hold its hips and legs firmly.
13:00 Oh man, okay, okay.
13:01 You can do this.
13:02 Now remember, the baby is going to be slippery.
13:05 So don't drop it.
13:06 Okay, okay.
13:09 Your baby's coming.
13:10 The baby's coming.
13:11 Keep breathing, honey.
13:11 You're doing good.
13:12 Okay, you're going to have to tell her to push hard to get the baby out.
13:16 Okay, keep pushing, honey.
13:18 Push, push, push, push, push.
13:19 Go, go, go, go.
13:21 I've got the baby.
13:22 Keep going, keep going.
13:23 Okay, shoulders are out.
13:25 Okay, I've got the baby.
13:28 The baby's out.
13:29 Is the baby crying or breathing?
13:35 Yeah, it's kind of a little bit of crying.
13:40 Not too much.
13:40 Okay.
13:40 You're...
13:42 Okay, yep.
13:44 Now go for the next one.
13:45 Dry the baby off with a clean towel.
13:46 So you're going to dry the baby off with a clean towel.
13:50 Good job.
13:50 Then wrap the baby.
13:51 You're doing great.
13:54 Okay, wrap the baby.
13:55 In a different clean towel.
13:58 Okay, all right.
14:00 You can take a minute if you need.
14:03 It's okay.
14:04 Just reassuring help's on the way.
14:06 Take your time if you need.
14:07 I know it's painful.
14:10 You're doing good.
14:11 Baby's good.
14:12 She's so pretty.
14:12 You're doing a great job.
14:15 You're doing a great job.
14:16 All right, I think I hear the paramedics at the front door.
14:19 Should I go get them?
14:20 Okay, great.
14:21 Yes, go ahead and let them in.
14:23 Come on in.
14:25 They're here.
14:27 They're inside.
14:28 Okay, so if they're there with you, I'm going to let you go.
14:31 All right, thank you so much.
14:34 Congratulations.
14:35 Okay, thank you.
14:36 Right there, perfect.
14:39 Awesome job.
14:39 Just delivered a baby.
14:41 Oh my God.
14:43 That was way more intense than I thought it would be.
14:48 I literally, like, imagined what if this was me?
14:51 You still did a really good job.
14:54 I've been doing this for nine years now.
14:56 And if I get a call--
14:56 How do you hold it together?
14:58 Oh, it's practice.
15:00 Practice and just reminding yourself that we're here to help those
15:03 on their worst day.
15:04 Yeah.
15:05 And that's the best part, right?
15:06 Thank you so much.
15:08 You're a true hero.
15:09 Since you finished your final challenge, we have something for you.
15:13 We wanted to present you with an honorary South Metro Fire Dispatch badge.
15:21 Are you kidding me?
15:22 100%.
15:22 Yep, makes it show in the world what it's like to be a dispatcher.
15:25 And thank you for saving the world, literally.
15:28 I love it.
15:29 I wouldn't do anything else.
15:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]