Re: 911:: Suicidal Calls - WAS: NOT!- but NOW is: What if?

December 13, 2000

At 11:18 AM 12/11/2000 -0500, Nick Deem wrote:

>>From my experience with suicidal calls (and I seem to be the one that always

>answers when they call), you were the first point of contact and you should

>not hand them off to someone else. When they tell you that they want to end

>their life because they have nothing to live for or that no one cares, then

>you transfer them or give them to someone else then they feel that you do

>not even care.

I beg to differ; not every case fits those criteria. Those calls that *I*

personally have CONFERENCED with (not simply transferred to) a trained

Suicide Prevention crisis worker - and many other calls with which other

dispatchers of my acquaintance have handled similarly - have enjoyed the

benefit of someone who had NO other duties to handle at the same time.

Subsequent calls received at that hot line number get another crisis

worker, not placed on hold to be juggled with other emergencies. None of

us simply dumped the suicidal caller off to someone else, but at some point

after a period of time offered to connect the caller with " someone who can

really help you work this through " or " someone who's better at helping you

than I am, right now. " (Or other similar phrases that provide reassurance,

not a sense of " kiss off. " ) The good telecommunicator is able to impart

sincerity and empathy in a great variety of types of incidents; why

couldn't the same be said for those occasions when s/he must include a

trained crisis hot-line worker in the mix of things?

>

>I find something that we can talk about, like their kids, grand kids a hobby

>anything to talk to them about to get their mind off of it until an ofc. can

>arrive. I have been lucky I have not lost one yet and I have always kept

>them on the line until help gets there. I do not look forward to the day

>when I lose one.

This suggests you have the caller's location. My current Comm Center is

the primary PSAP for WIRELESS 9-1-1 calls, and we're lucky if we get Caller

ID displaying ANI - there's NO ALI for ANY of our calls. If the caller

doesn't tell us the location, we've got no place to send anybody.

Meanwhile, there's a caller in distress that needs more than just " someone

to talk to " for a short period of time until somebody arrives - because who

knows if we WILL get a location in time? Or at all?

Back when I worked for another agency - a consolidated PSAP for

wired/regular 9-1-1 - I dealt with a suicidal caller who kept moving from

pay phone to pay phone. AND this was pre-E9-1-1, so we were guessing at

the locations from what he told us. We had officers going up and down the

streets in the vicinity we suspected was " best. " He finally hung up as a

patrol unit approached the phone booth in which he was sobbing out his

contrition for cheating on his girlfriend (the first woman who had ever

trusted him and she'd caught him in bed with someone), only to shoot

himself in the head as the officer approached; we heard the shot as the

officer transmitted on the air that he " had the subject. " I - and my

partners in the Comm Center - had " worked " this incident for nearly two

hours, involving several of his calls.

So thank your lucky stars you have had such good luck with suicidal callers.

>

>Just put yourselves in their shoes and think how would I fel if I called for

>help and got transferred......

Many folks expect to be transferred to other places when they dial 9-1-1

anyway. To the actual cop that will answer their question, to the " medic "

who will give them CPR instructions, to the Firefighter that will answer

their " is it a burn day today? " questions, to the pharmacist that will tell

them about this or that drug prescription, to the chief of police or

Director of the FBI. <shrugging>

Every " hand off " has to be handled appropriately and with respect for the

situation. It just so happens that every single wireless 9-1-1 call in CA

that isn't related to traffic or highways or county roads or motorist

safety GETS transferred to the appropriate PD or other agency with physical

and/or legal jurisdiction for the incident.

And now, here's a guilty secret exposed: I've been suicidal in the past, so

I've worn those shoes. Let me use that personal pronoun with real

reference: I really WOULD rather have someone to talk to that has the time

to listen to my Whatever I Think The Unsolvable Problem Is and who isn't

distracted by other ringing phones and radio traffic. And if *I* got put

on hold because the person to whom I was talking absolutely HAD to answer

another line, no matter how sincerely s/he said to hold on, be right back,

that might be the moment I thought *I* wasn't anywhere near as important -

in my own mind - as those " other emergencies. "

In my 24 years of experience, I've had to put lots of callers on hold - all

kinds of callers, even those in extreme, life-threatening circumstances -

to quickly check on other working situations, only to get back to them just

as freakin' quickly as I could.

And I HAVE personally talked to the local Suicide Prevention hot-line

folks, because I knew about the service. I've talked to them as a

professional telecommunicator, in dealing with suicidal callers. I've

talked to them in making arrangements for the Coordinator of that service

to give presentations to my dispatchers. I've talked to them because I was

in crisis, myself.

I don't know what services are in other parts of the state of CA, or in

other states or nations. All I know is what I've encountered,

professionally and personally. We've got a great organization that can

provide skilled assistance invaluable to all the local emergency services

- and to individuals and their families and friends. There is an epidemic

of suicide - whatever we can do to stem that tide should be attempted.

It just so happens that they're a better resource, in many (not all, but

many) circumstances in this area involving suicide threats, than a 9-1-1

Center. Other times, it's not appropriate to utilize their services.

THAT'S the rub - evaluating the most correct action to take.

Like we always do, right?

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Communications Supervisor

~on the Central California coastline~