In 28 years of working EMS I have seen things that have stuck with me for the whole time, sometimes those things come back to me when my guard is down. The worst call any EMS professional can go on is a true “baby not breathing” where a frantic parent is holding a lifeless infant and a dispatcher is trying to talk them through CPR on what is likely their worst possible nightmare. In the ambulance, the two responders, medics at the places I have worked will quickly decide who has the airway and who has everything else, because securing the airway is key in saving the child’s life and having the medic who can get that airway supercedes whos “turn it is”. they will get out and march toward that child, looking like knights of old going to do battle, usually, with firefighters and police officers following close behind if they aren’t already there, it is a battle against the angel of death, hoping to give a child back their tomorrows.

The people we never really talk about are those folks in dispatch centers the world over, something happens in that room, the banter ends, and the room turns to listen to the dispatcher who is taking the information and giving pre-arrival instructions, much like those responders who are about to fight for the very soul of a child, the room becomes the first battlefield, get the information, relay it to the crews, and try to get a parent to start CPR on their child, words of encouragement and support are used by even the crustiest of dispatchers, the dispatcher listening for anything that might sound like life signs while they talk the parent through compressions and breaths, if you have been in the field you begin to imagine the scene, toys and other things strewn about, maybe a spilled drink, a TV running in the background, and all the while a life hangs by a slender thread.

When the crews arrive the dispatcher hangs up, takes a deep breath, and gets ready to answer the next call, the room starts talking again and they wait to hear the ambulance report from the crew to learn if anything they did helped or not.