Dispatch Star Power

This issue’s Blast from the Past reintroduces us to an old TV show that first aired in 1989: Rescue 911. Even if you’re a young adult early in your dispatch career, you may still remember the show since it re-aired on several TV networks well into the 2010s due to its popularity.

Hosted by Canadian actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame, it reenacted real-life dramatic calls made to 911 centers in the United States, typically portraying the 911 emergency dispatcher, along with the field responders, as “lifesaving heroes.” To be sure, each of us who has worked in emergency services wants to save lives— it’s a critical part of our work, as well as an expectation of the public in the communities we serve. But that’s not why we do it.

But is handling life-or-death calls really your only important professional duty? Certainly, there are a lot more routine calls that don’t require lifesaving instructions and lights-and-siren response over the course of a shift, a week, a month, and a career. What of these calls? Shouldn’t we treat them with the same level of importance as the relatively few time-critical emergencies? Shouldn’t we offer those callers, patients, victims, and concerned family members as much assistance as possible—when they need it?

Indeed, handling these more routine cases may be an equally important measure of our professional value to people who rely on us at a difficult time. Dr. Jeff Clawson likes to remind us of the motto the Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians had when he was a young EMS Medical Director: “A helping hand when you need it most.” Notably, there’s no mention of lifesaving, emergency care, or speedy response in that short, but meaningful, slogan.

Dr. Clawson had some time with Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek, at the Hollywood TV Media Week when the upcoming Rescue 911 series was to be released. He vividly recalls the experience. “I hardly knew what to say being ‘starstruck’ myself, so I told him we had this ‘dispatch law’ called the ‘Spock Principle’ so named after an iconic Star Trek scene he and Spock, a Vulcan played by Leonard Nimoy, had as Spock was dying in the Enterprise’s engine reactor,” Dr. Clawson said. “They both shared the now widely replicated ‘spread fingers’ touching act through the thick lead glass as Spock muttered, ‘Jim, for the good of the many, not just the few, or even the one.’ Shatner looked up and smiled at me saying, ‘You’re kidding, I’ll have to tell Leonard that!’”

John Wooden, former coach of the UCLA men’s basketball team, and one of the greatest athletic coaches in sports, famously started his practices by teaching his players how to properly put on their socks to prevent blisters, demonstrating that even the smallest, most fundamental details matter—and require our best effort every time we step into the game.

Perhaps those lifesaving emergencies, the events we often get the most credit for, are not what really define us as emergency dispatchers—at least not most of time. So, as you read the article Dispatch Star Power by Audrey Fraizer from 2013, please consider the statement made by former Heartland Dispatcher Scott Cullen: “I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I work at something I love that actually helps people.” Now that is genuine, resolute, and impactful Star Power.