HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Local dispatchers are urging lawmakers in Washington to reclassify their positions as first responders, saying it would bring them up to the same level as police officers and firefighters while helping recruit more people to the radio rooms across Virginia.
911 dispatchers are faced with helping people in crisis everyday, and they say it would mean a lot to them to be labeled as first responders, because even though they aren’t going to the scene, they’re still enduring a lot of stress and trauma through the phone.
“This is a job where you have to get it right,” said Newport News 911 Manager Laura McCartney. “You have to get it right the first time. Our 911 professionals, they have to make split second decisions. They have to be able to give CPR. They have to be able to help with [the] Heimlich maneuver. You know, we birth babies. So we do the same thing just sitting behind the console.”
McCartney was one of only a few dispatch managers from the state of Virginia to attend “911 goes to Washington.”
Their big ask is to move 911 dispatchers at the federal level from the clerical and administrative to protective services.
“This is the same protective services that a lifeguard falls under, that a school crossing guard falls under,” McCartney said, “so we just want to be moved from the clerical position to protective services.”
McCartney said eventually their fight would also be for better retirement benefits and better health benefits, such as mental health services, but this change needs to happen first.
“If we can get out of the clerical and get into the protective service,” McCartney said, “that opens so many doors, because the federal government then says, ‘yes, they are recognized as a protector and servant’ and then the states will follow.”
McCartney hopes that would help with recruitment and retention too. She said the retention rate sits at 30% for dispatchers across the country and their vacancy rates are anywhere from 30% to 50%.
She said it would cost the federal government nothing to make this change, but it would mean a lot to those answering the call.
“It would give us the respect, [to] let 911 professionals know that they are respected for the job, life saving jobs they do every day,” McCartney said.
The 911 Saves Act to make this change was introduced in the House of Representatives late last year, but no action has been taken.
McCartney said 19 states already recognize telecommunications as first responders and Virginia is not one of them.
If you’d like to support dispatchers, contact your state lawmakers.
