Within the Trenches

Good afternoon everyone! I am back again with another great episode from this weeks NENA conference in Lansing, Michigan. In this episode Mike of St. Joseph County Fire Dispatch in South Bend, Indiana, joined me along with Ron, Executive Director of Kent County Dispatch Authority and Nancy, Dispatch Operations Manager of St. Joseph County in Indiana. Episode 21 is jammed packed with useful information and a must listen. We touch on several dispatch stories as well as a mention of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation that Ron is a part of. One of the major points in this episode is a standardization of training for 9-1-1 professionals.

For more information on the Denise Amber Lee Foundation please see the link below. As always you can email the show at [email protected].

Denise Amber Lee Foundation | Web | Facebook

Episode topics –

• How each guest was introduced to emergency services
• 9-1-1 standards
• How 9-1-1 is seen as a profession
• 9-1-1 stories
• Odd names such as "Cop Shop", "Actin' a Fool" and "Done Fell Out."

Good morning and happy Friday! This has been an amazing week for me. I had the chance to attend the 2013 NENA conference in Lansing, Michigan for 9-1-1 professionals. I attended some excellent classes and met some great people doing great things. In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Dee Ann, assistant director of Tuscola county 9-1-1, an ENP and one of the founding board members of the 911 Wellness Foundation. Also sitting with us for this episode was Jim Marshall with the 911 Wellness Foundation and also the director of the 911 Training Institute.

This is an episode that you do not want to miss. The information in this episode is important for everyone and Jim even gets me with a Jedi Mind Trick by getting me to admit a few things. It definitely felt good to admit those items so thank you Jim and Dee Ann for helping me and those in our field. For more information on the 911 Wellness Foundation or the 911 Training Institute please follow the links below. Also if you would like to get a hold of them through the show or our Facebook fan page you can shoot us an email and we can make contact with them. As always you can email the show at [email protected].

911 Wellness Foundation | Web

911 Training Institute | Web

Episode topics –

• The humor of the work spouse
• Dealing with stress and how it affects your family
• Stress and your health
• EMDR

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are having an excellent day. I am currently in Lansing, Michigan for the 2013 NENA conference. This episode is the first of a series that will be recorded here. I have been attending classes, meeting new people and for this episode I had the pleasure of speaking to Dee Ann, the assistant director of Tuscola County Central Dispatch. We had an excellent conversation and this is one that you can't afford to miss! As always you can email the show at [email protected] and make sure to 'Like' us on Facebook!

Episode topics -

• How Dee Ann got into dispatch
• 9-1-1 calls that have stuck with her
• What an ENP is

Hello everyone! Whitney and I are back with an epic episode 18 of Within the Trenches. It has been about a month or so since Whit and I were together for an episode but we are back to hook you up with another excellent show. This week both Whitney and I have been battling some health issues but my minor cold and Whit's ear were unable to hold us back. On this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing none other than the very popular KMK of Diary of a Mad Dispatcher. KMK shared some awesome stories from her dispatch career including her very first 9-1-1 call and another call from a drunk who called in saying that he had fallen off a cliff but what he didn't realize was that there are no cliffs in the area he was in. Get ready to hear from the Mad Dispatcher herself and make sure to check her out on Facebook and her t-shirt store on etsy.com by searching "The Mad Dispatcher." As always you can email the show at [email protected] and 'Like' our new Facebook page! In this episode I said it was just Within the Trenches but it's actually Within the Trenches Podcast. Cheers!

Diary of a Mad Dispatcher | Facebook | etsy.com

Within the Trenches | Facebook

Episode topics -

• The beginning of KMK's dispatch career
• How Diary of a Mad Dispatcher was created
• A time restriction on the release of 9-1-1 tapes
• Social Media and NG911

Hello everyone, I am back this week for episode 17 of Within the Trenches. This is the last of a series of episodes that were recorded at the Mini-C conference in Boca Raton Florida. In this episode I sat down with four of Palm Beach State College 9-1-1 Dispatch Academy's finest. The conversation I had with Lisa, Myrnett, Wayne and Kimberly was excellent and refreshing. Their insight and experience going through the academy brought me back to when I first started. My beginning wasn't as elaborate but it definitely brought me back. Thank you very much for sitting with me and sharing your experience. I have dubbed you the Fearless Four. Good luck on your finals and I know you will do great things.

I want to thank Tom of the Cool Kids of 9-1-1 for inviting Within the Trenches to be part of this and everyone involved in the Mini-C conference and those who were guests on the show. On behalf of Whitney and I, we appreciate it more than you know. If you would like to know more about the Palm Beach State College 9-1-1 Dispatch Academy you can follow the link below. As always you can email the show at [email protected] and make sure to like us on Facebook!

Palm Beach State College 9-1-1 Dispatch Academy | Web

Episode topics

• Why each one of them wanted to get into dispatching
• Their experience in the academy
• Calls they have listened to
• The recent Bakersfield California call controversy
• Their message to anyone thinking of getting into dispatching

Good evening folks! I am back again with a new episode of Within the Trenches. This episode is a continuation of the series of episodes that I recorded this past week at the Mini-C conference in Boca Raton Florida. In this episode I had the privilege of speaking with Cheryl who works with Palm Beach County 9-1-1 Management and is a part-time 9-1-1 dispatcher. Cheryl was great to talk to and she finished off the interview with an excellent message for the public. It's something that everyone needs to hear because when you make a 9-1-1 call there is specific information we need so her message is one that is very important.

As always you can email the show at [email protected] and make sure to 'Like' us on Facebook!

Episode topics -

• How Cheryl got into dispatch
• How long she's been doing it
• Next Generation 9-1-1
• Memorable call - Home invasion where callers mom was shot and the little girl on the phone was also shot w/Cheryl on the phone
• Message for the public

Good afternoon! This episode of Within the Trenches features Sabrina of West Palm Beach Dispatch Operations. We had an excellent conversation before recording and it was nice because we were able to get to know each other better. After only a few minutes of talking to her I felt as though we knew each other all our lives. This is a must listen episode that everyone can learn from. Make sure to check it out, share and as always, you can email the show at [email protected].

Episode topics -

• How Sabrina got into dispatching
• The interview process
• Line of duty death
• Dispatch education/training

Good evening! Last week was rather busy with my root canal, 22 hour drive to Florida and graduation. I'm very happy to say that my family and I made it through everything with no problems, but last weeks episode had to be postponed. I'm still on vacation in Florida and just yesterday I had the privilege of attending the 4th Annual Mini-C conference in Boca Raton. I was initially invited by Tom of The Cool Kids of 9-1-1. He and I had been talking about promoting each others work and he mentioned this conference. It was promoted on Jabber Log and afterward he said it was too bad that Whitney and I couldn't be there during the conference. Well, it just so happened that I was going to be in Florida so I attended and recorded four great episodes.

This episode features Al, a 12 year volunteer with Boca Raton 9-1-1. He recently turned 95 years old and had much to say about 9-1-1. It was a great conversation!

Episode topics -

• How Al became a volunteer
• The need for more 9-1-1 public education
• The need for more 9-1-1 training for dispatchers

And much more!

As always you can email the show at [email protected] and make sure to listen, share and visit The Cool Kids of 9-1-1 for more on the Mini-C!

Hello everyone! Whitney and I are back again this week with episode 13 of Within the Trenches. A few episodes back we spoke with Cheryl of Yakima, Washington and she was not only a dispatcher but she is part of her centers critical incident stress management (CISM) team. It was an interesting and informative show and since it went so well, we wanted to bring this week's guest on to add to the topic of CISM. This week we spoke with Matt, operations manager of the communications center in Kent County. It's one of our larger areas in western Michigan and he reflected on one of his first emergencies while attending an explorers program as a teenager with a local fire department. He also touched on the importance of CISM and we spoke briefly on a call he helped us out with when we were dealing with a loss of our own.

A big thanks goes out to Kent County for allowing us the opportunity to have Matt on the show and to Matt; thank you for everything you do! It's appreciated more than you know. As always you can email us at [email protected] or you can click the black contact button on the left of this page. Thanks and make sure to listen, share and comment!

Good evening everyone! Whitney and I are back with episode 12 of Within the Trenches. We postponed our interview for this week because of some issues I was having with an infected tooth and some minor oral surgery but we pulled through. This weeks episode is a bit longer than the last few but it's definitely worth it. I can tell you that it's amazing and you are really going to dig it! In this episode we share four different 9-1-1 tapes involving the wonders of bees, handcuffs, shrimp fried rice and child discipline.

Whitney and I add to the tapes with our expertise and humor so this is a must listen. We also answer a couple listener questions about why we continue to ask questions after we've been given the initial information and what we do if we take a call with a language barrier. We also touch on The Call, a new movie starring Halle Berry where she plays a 9-1-1 operator. A new flash contest is mentioned and we share an excellent deal from Success Communications, Inc. Their conference called 9114911 is coming up in October and it's something you need to check out. When you register make sure to mention Within the Trenches and the offer within this episode and you will get a sweet deal. As always you can email us at [email protected]!

9114911 | Web

Team Coco | Halle Berry on CONAN (The Call)