{"id":2457341,"date":"2020-04-17T22:24:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T04:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/pitkin-county-dispatchers-overworked-under-appreciated\/"},"modified":"2020-04-18T09:14:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T15:14:25","slug":"pitkin-county-dispatchers-overworked-under-appreciated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/pitkin-county-dispatchers-overworked-under-appreciated\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitkin County dispatchers overworked, under-appreciated"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the April 16 article \u201cPitkin County\u2019s 911 center named best in state,\u201d<\/a> I really feel like the lead was buried. Yes, Sheriff Joe DiSalvo mentioned that the dispatchers were recognized as the best in the state, but to me, not nearly enough credit was given where it is due.<\/p>\n

Pitkin County dispatch, as do most, if not all dispatch centers, chews up its staff and spits them out constantly. Based on the ads in the local papers, their office is in a perpetual rush to train up new hires as the turnover is shocking. The hours are long and stressful. Every emergency call weighs on these first responders and the effect is cumulative.<\/p>\n

In a 2019 report, the Behavioral Insights Team & the University of California at Berkeley produced shocking results.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 40 percent of 911 dispatchers exhibit high levels of burnout, more than double the burnout rate of employees in other fields. And, in addition to the public safety risk created by high turnover in emergency call centers, recruiting and training a new hire to replace the dispatchers who have left can cost a city tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes even in the hundreds of thousands range, per resignation.\u201d (https:\/\/bit.ly\/2XVNY0r<\/a><\/i>)<\/p>\n

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