Friday, December 27, 2019

All Superheros Have A Kryptonite

 I take 9-1-1 calls so yes, I am calm and jump into action when there is an emergency, whether on the phone or in person.  I've drove down the street watching a woman get beat by her man and I had no regard for my own safety and jumped out my car to help her.  I was able to get her to my car and took her to the police station as she bled all over my seat.  I've seen a woman on the freeway about to jump over the ledge and I pulled over and talked to her until the police arrived and took over.  I am cool, calm and give all the necessary information needed that many times my callers fail to give me when it's their emergency.   

Typically when you talk to me through my headset it's quite possibly the worst day of your life. 
You absolutely never know how you will react when you're in the middle of an emergency yourself.  You may say you got it under control.  But you won't know until it actually happens to you. 

Ask the trauma nurse who had to watch their child have a seizure while on the phone with me.  The nurse could not stop screaming in panic to give me the address needed to send help.   Eventually I was able to calm the nurse just enough for me to hear "I am a trauma nurse, but I need your help,  tell me what to do!" 

Ask the doctor who was calling for his friend while at a medical convention.  The friend went unconscious and needed CPR and there I was giving a medical doctor life saving instructions. 


Ask me operator 43...when I saw my co-worker drive away and get t-boned by a bus, I called my job in a shear panic. 


"Help! Help! Get the paramedics and ambulance here now! Send them to our job!"


"Who's job?"


"Our job!  HURRY NOW! WE NEED HELP!"


Yeah that didn't go over well.  I was no help at all and hung up on the dispatcher due to my own frustration.  


Ask me operator 43 about the time law enforcement sent me a call and before they could say anything I heard this little girls voice say "Hello"  I froze and didn't want to look at the screen displaying the info from the caller because I knew the voice.  I called her name and she replied "Yes".  Like a deer in headlights I stared at the phone screen and confirmed what I already knew.  It was my niece calling me.  Although she was six years old I taught her well enough that she knew you only call 9-1-1 for an emergency.  So if she was calling...then it absolutely had to be a real emergency.  When I realized what was happening I never even asked her what was wrong and I just sent help.  I sat on the phone with her as I cried watching and waiting for the units to make it to her.  I never did what I was supposed to do as operator 43.  In that moment, hearing her voice was my kryptonite.  All my superhero powers were gone. 






Good news, although it was a real emergency everything went well but later I was in for a doozy.  My niece's mom called me and said you really scared her when she called you.  I felt bad, because when I needed to be a superhero I failed her miserably. 

The next day I took pizza to her class. She introduced me, "this is my auntie,

she's a 9-1-1 operator!"  The kids looked up to me oohed and ahh'd because I was in my uniform and I'm sure she told her class how she had to call 9-1-1 the day before.  She then said, "9-1-1 operators are supposed to be calm but she wasn't yesterday when I called her."  I guess it's true as the saying goes "kids say the darnedest things". 

Just days before writing this entry, I got a call from law enforcement, they said they needed a medical response and wanted our units to stage.  To stage means the situation is too dangerous and the Fire Department units need to wait until law enforcement handles the danger before treating the patients inside.  These calls are typically gunshots, stabbings, or victims of an assault.  The Fire Department  do not come with weapons so law enforcement does their job first. 


The address law enforcement gave me was the same exact address as my niece's house.  I froze just like the day I got the call from my niece twelve years ago.  43, ARE YOU THERE?  oh yes yes, I repeat back the address...west twenty first street and she says no 43, east twenty fourth street.  I thought I heard 21st street.  Which at the time my brain was zeroed in on thinking what was going on there at my niece's house again years later, that my brain never rationalized her address is WEST, and my department doesn't even handle the west side of the city. 

If a person I know is calling 9-1-1, it's a horrible feeling and I react differently with them versus a stranger.  On the phone before they even tell me what is wrong, I  know the caller through my headset possibly is having the worst day of their life.



Tuesday, December 10, 2019

The Sunrise

While most of you are sleep and dreaming I am up wearing my superhero headset.  Although my job is pretty repetitive as far as the procedures of  how the calls are taken,  

I can say at night the calls are almost all emergencies. 

Some are routine and then there are the times my life saving skills are tested. When I am at work you can typically find me in the same spot.  I sit right next to the picturesque window with the view of the San Gabriel Valley.  Sitting in the window I watch people come and go, to and from work.  I also watch the airplanes in the sky.  I've had this window view so long I even know when the planes coming and going to LAX are not in their normal landing and takeoff patterns.  I am quite fascinated by aviation so to be able to see planes flying is always nice.  In addition we have a helicopter pad and sometimes I get the treat of seeing what I call the whirly bird land and take off.   

I will be candid with you, there are some day's I'm drained and I look out the window wishing I were on the whirly bird or the airplane. But in the end I know I'm needed sitting in my chair listening to the cries for help.  It's always nice to connect things and have small epiphanies about why you have a certain habit.

The window I realized is my small piece of solace.  Often times my mornings are filled with the screeching cries from a person who has found their loved one no longer breathing. To prevent those cries from eating away at me I sit in the window.  The view I see of the sunrise is GODS's gift to me that breathes life back into me.  I can leave knowing I have to make each sunrise count.  So take a look
at my view and know this day is for you too. 
Make the most of it!

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Saturday Night

Saturday was my first night back at work after 48 days of vacation. I didn't want to tell you so early what I do for a living because I wanted it to be some sort of revealing surprise.  However now I know you are wondering "Wow what does she do to be off for 48 days on vacation? " And just so you know, I'm pushing hard trying to make those 48 days turn into 60 days next year.  

Yes it may seem like a long time off, but superheros need time off to rejuvenate and build themselves back up.  When you're a superhero you easily get drained and lose power.  I don't wear a traditional cape.  My "cape" I wear on my head while my body adorns dark blue pants and shirt with a proud patch I wear on the left shoulder.   The motto I stand by is "The mission starts here"

When I started this job over 13 years ago, when people would ask what I did for a living I would simply say "oh I just answer phones."  As time went on I think a reality hit me that my job was not "just answering phones" and instead I would stand with pride and say "I am a lifesaver!"  It took another few years to realize and agree, I'm more than a lifesaver, I'm a superhero.  When you get into a routine it just seems like the normal thing to do.   Routines often let you lose sight of things like taking care of yourself in many ways.  Once you acknowledge your superhero status you fight to save everyone unknowingly.  You just find yourself always helping whether you're asked or not.  When your family and friends show need you just show up and help.   A superhero never expects the same in return, they just save the people.

Before I became fortunate enough to be paid to do this awesome job, I have always been put in situations to be trained to wear my head piece of power.  At a young age I have seen and heard things many adults have yet to deal with. However instead of being bitter about it I think of it as the training I needed for my life now.  All of it was just to prepare me to be a superhero.  

Day one post vacay... Operator 43, what is your emergency?   

"Oh my God! I'm like next to the gas station and I smell gas! Lots of it!" 
"I'm sorry ma'am did you say you're at the gas station and you smell gas? 
"Yes! hurry and get someone here now!" 
"Ma'am are you smelling natural gas?" 
"No! Like the gas you put in your car"  

*sigh*   

And if you're actually wondering...yes there was a smell of gas at the gas station, it was ummm welllll yeah, gasoline.  Yes at the gas station.  

No special superhero headpiece needed tonight.  

Next caller please.  




Friday, November 15, 2019

It's Only Barb

"Only Barb"...that is always said with such affection, and laughter.  Many who know me have said those two words more than once in life.  From the days of childhood to my current adulthood, I find myself in situations sometimes sticky and precarious or heartfelt and funny.  But many times the circumstance warrants "only Barb" as the only sensible answer.


As anyone grows up they eventually "find" themselves.  The idea of finding yourself can be interpreted in many ways. It can be completing a challenge from a bucket list, figuring out your calling or walking away from something you did not realize that was making you miserable.

Now after living all these years I am for certain about two things.  I have a desire to help, and I am a great storyteller.  The desire to help people, I figured that out all myself at a young age, but the storytelling part it took some time and convincing.  I tell a story almost everyday of my life.  Most sit on the edge of their seat waiting for the climax and ending.  Some will try to scurry me through it.  But no matter how urgently they are waiting for the climax and end, it won't happen, I keep telling the story with the same enthusiasm and detail as I told it that same day to someone else.


After continuously hearing "wow Barb tell me another story" I actually started to think I had a gift for storytelling.  It wasn't until one day my bestie's boyfriend said "Barb your stories are sometimes unbelievable but I have to believe your stories because there is no way you can make them up."It was at that point I started to think about the quirky situations I would find myself in and how they easily entertained others.  It still took some convincing for me to think I had a gift with the delivery of all of this but I knew people would always ask for more but it was still puzzling to me as how they would enjoy my life. These are the stories of my life. I'm not making up these stories, I just live it and share it.


When I finally gained courage and self belief I picked up my laptop and wrote a book about my life. Let me let you know now, my life story will take you from sunny days to dreary, dark, cold and thunderous storms at times.  But for now, there will not be any roller coasters of emotions.  Right now I want to introduce you to my bright, funny and quirky stories.  I'm looking forward to you saying "Only Barb"