Hell is empty, & all the devils are here.

There is a plague consuming our industry, a scourge of epidemic proportions. There is no vaccine, no cure.  It is killing careers while permanently scaring those that survive. When left untreated, it launches a virulent attack on our co-workers, our family and our friends. 

The cumulative stress of our profession is deadly. Almost every 9-1-1 professional can tell you about the incidents that forever changed their lives. When they reflect on those calls, sorrow washes over them like a tsunami. Their chest tightens, blood pressure rises, muscles contract, and their breathing takes more effort. Their cardiovascular system has been permanently altered. Their sympathetic nervous system has been rewired. Trauma has been inflicted on the brain and body.

Post-Traumatic Stress within our industry is just as real as Influenza. 

Yet many of our Emergency Communications Centers (ECC) will spend more time and money battling H1N1 than the physical, mental and emotional impacts of vicarious trauma. Visit most any Center this winter and you will find enough bleach wipes to clean the surface of the moon. However, ask an employee about stress mitigation… “Uh, Houston. We have a problem.”

Each day, our 9-1-1 professionals battle against the devils within their own mind. Whether it was an officer involved shooting, a hurricane, a fire that claims an entire family, or other incidents too offensive to print, they affect us the rest of our lives. Left unchecked, the trauma seeps into every relationship, destroying our happiness and robbing our health. Moreover, the effects are just as potent in the private sector with the teams that build and implement our 9-1-1 systems.

There are more than 53 million hits when you Google “Post Traumatic Stress”, and another 729,000 when searching “Vicarious Trauma”. There is quantifiable research on stress management and entire courses on mental resiliency. Even the United States Army has a 10-day course on “Master Resilience Training” for all non-commissioned officers. With so many resources at our fingertips, why have we not defeated this enemy?

Well, for many of us in the industry, we have forgotten what ‘normal’ feels like. We have become so accustomed to Chronic Stress that it becomes our security blanket. When we see new hires come in smiling, our immediate response is “well, that smile won’t last long”. That seems funny on the surface, right? 

But what level of hell have we descended into when a smile is uncommon!?

I am a realist. I understand that 9-1-1 will always be one of the most stressful careers on the planet. I also know that a single person can make significant impacts. Projects like “I Am 911” are revealing the need for stress management in 9-1-1 on a global scale. Training initiatives, books and articles are bringing substantive help to the suffering.

Now, how can YOU help? 

Be a Warrior. Be a professional who is committed to understanding stress and recognizing its impacts on others. Be a Warrior that is driven by compassion for your fellow man and woman. Be the one who will commit to check on each coworker after a tough shift. Be the leader who will take time to explain to every teammate every option of Employee Assistance. Be the partner who will just sit, listen, and encourage. Be the angel to their demon.

Let encouragement be our Anthem. 

Let compassion be our Pledge.  

• This reprint is from "The Call", the quarterly magazine of the National Emergency Number Association: Peevyhouse, J. (December, 2018). Battling the Cumulative Stress of Being a 9-1-1 Professional. www.nena.org/page/TheCallMagazine.