You learn something new every day, and today that new fact for some of us is that 911 dispatchers aren’t recognized as first responders.
Dispatchers sometimes hear the worst of the worst.
“Things that you hear are not normal things people would hear,” said Jessica Frunzar, a training coordinator with Westcom Emergency Communications.
“You hear the child crying in the background because his parents are fighting or the mother sobbing because she just lost her child,” Frunzar said.
Police, firefighters and EMS are all labeled as first responders, but dispatchers are considered to be administrative secretaries.
Frunzar thinks that should change.
Many dispatchers say they already have the qualifications of first responders, and their responsibilities have increased over the years.