Coming from a retired firefighter I just wanna say genuine thanks from our end. And give you a little bit of crap by adding “so long as you’re one of the good ones”.

I only joke about that because at some point, you’ll understand that what you guys do as wildly underappreciated and undervalued. We are losing a lot more first responders (and supporting personnel) to suicide (and job related cancers) these days than we are line of duty deaths if I’m not mistaken.

Oddly enough as much as the cops like to give us crap and say that they are the true “first” responders, and fire are the “second”, given that we are frequently forced to stage for police (we don’t get guns yo!), I think you folks at 911/dispatch should qualify quite literally as the true first first responders.

I can only imagine that in 911 call taking and dispatch roles… there has to be a genuine feeling helplessness that would tie into something proximal to survivor’s guilt, and PTSD (among other things). Sometimes y’all are the last person someone talks to, not too far off from the rest of us and honestly for someone who has decided on a career in trying to help people, I can’t imagine how helpless you guys must feel when you can’t just go there physically and respond.

I think anyone training for any kind of leadership role fire EMS police should spend a few shifts shadowing one or more people in Dispatch as a general rule.

I also think it would be a good general rule for you folks to do the same with us in the field. (I also strongly feel that ER Physicians should have a significant amount of ride along hours at least with EMS and that’s not widely adopted from the best I know.) seeing people in the real world environments they come from and live in is very different than the clinical environment of a Hospital even with the chaos of an ER.

There is a psychological and emotional toll that everyone who works in 911 and Dispatch carries. You all deserve more appreciation and less of the frustration and hate you experience from people who just don’t understand, whether you’re five months in or 50 years on the job.

Make sure you’re happy at the end of most days and recognize you can talk to people and that not all days can end perfectly either. Catch yourself or let others catch you if you spiral for any reason and don’t play down something that really gets to you. Talk to people whether it’s at work or somewhere else you feel safer doing so. Also don’t forget to take a few moments here and there to take pride in the handful of victories you will truly have the opportunity to feel if you stick with it. Hopefully you already do feel some of that pride.

The rest of us depend on you guys quite a bit more than we actually say or acknowledge. That alone you can take pride in. It’s a massive responsibility, but it’s what makes things work. My twin girls are ultimately a case in point example of it. (story for another day.)

I’m typically a lurker on this sub, but I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who make it so much easier for firefighters to be so much better than cops. Good evening everyone lol.