News staff writer Julie Riddle recently spent a day hanging out with Alpena County’s 911 dispatchers.

Her story revealed some fascinating details about the important role dispatchers play in helping emergency crews respond to crises and about the high-stress environment in which they work.

But, perhaps more importantly, her reporting revealed ways we can help dispatchers help us in an emergency:

∫ Stay calm. Callers are understandably frantic when they call 911, and are sometimes upset the dispatchers aren’t as frantic as they. But dispatchers’ calmness helps paramedics, police, and firefighters do their jobs, and it would help dispatchers if we could stay calm, too.

∫ Answer questions. Frantic callers are also upset with having to answer so many questions over the phone when all they want is an ambulance, police car, or fire truck to show up at their house. But the answers to those questions help emergency responders be as efficient and effective as they can be, so be patient with dispatchers and answer all of their questions.

∫ Don’t hang up. If you accidentally dial 911, don’t hang up. The dispatcher just has to call you back, anyway, to make sure everything’s OK. Their time is valuable and it saves important seconds if you just stay on the line and explain what happened.

Dispatchers play a vital role in the chain that links emergency to safety, and we have to do all we can to help them be the best they can be.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)