Orientation
Welcome aboard!
We are thrilled to have you interested in joining our team as a 911 telecommunicator. Our roles are critical in ensuring the safety and well-being of our community, and we are committed to providing you with all the tools and support you need to excel.
Day One
After you've been hired to work for us at Waukesha County Communications, we do everything to ensure you are set up for success. This all starts with orientation on your first day. It's okay to be nervous, we get it. But we will introduce you to our team members, and supervisors, assign you a locker, and provide a tour of the center to work to make you feel at home immediately. We're here to help you every step of the way, whether it's learning the ropes, handling challenging situations, or celebrating your successes. Your growth and success are our priorities, and we believe in your ability to rise to any challenge.
As important as it is to teach our new team members how to do the job, we take time to first talk about wellness, the specific stressors of being a 911 professional, and all the options they have at their disposal for their wellness to ensure they have the tools and resources to do the job successfully.
We read from “The Resilient 911 Professional,” edited by Jim Marshall and Tracey Laorenza, and learn about how stress affects us as a whole, both mentally and physically. We also read and discuss the 9 specific stressors and risk factors that can lead to stress for 9-1-1 telecommunicators identified by Jim Marshall (of 911 Training Institute), how they might affect us, and what to do with those stressors to stay resilient.
We speak of our Peer Support Team, Waukesha County’s EAP (employee assistance program) access, and our First Responder Psychological Services contract. These are clinicians, some of whom are former dispatchers, that we can access during and after traumatic calls or simply when a telecommunicator would like to speak with a clinician who “gets” what we do.
We will explore the difference between “Ethics vs Morals” and how this job can be difficult in ways you may not anticipate. Before you leave on your first day, you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect, how to set yourself up for success in training, and the importance of advocating for yourself to make sure you, your trainer, and WCC as a whole, are giving you everything you need to find success based on your learning style.
Day Two
Participate in an Oath Ceremony with our Operations Manager and Director, where we vow to follow our WCC Mission, Vision, and Values. We will jump into some coursework done as a pre-requisite for your upcoming training to become a certified Emergency Medical and Fire Dispatcher. You will also learn hands-on CPR from a WCC staff member who is a certified American Heart Association CPR instructor.
Day Three
We will start the day with an initial review of some of WCC’s guiding policies and procedures. You'll get your very own headset and training materials to get a jump start on your learning. Because everyone learns differently, it is encouraged to take this material and create it in a manner that supports your learning style. Flashcards, note-taking, and Quizlet are all great options for learning and retaining information.
Because we work around the clock and the classroom is held normally during the morning and early afternoon hours, we want to provide the opportunity for our entire team to get to know you before you hit the floor for on-the-job training. A supervisor will likely take a picture of you and provide you with some icebreaker questions to answer so that our entire team can put a face and some information on our new members!
We cap off day three with a presentation from one of our clinicians from First Responder Psychological Services where there is a huge emphasis on wellness and ways you can keep yourself healthy, even in a stressful job.
A common phrase heard during orientation is “keeping your cup filled”. Every day as a 9-1-1 professional, you will be pouring a little of yourself into each call to help those in need, and without a strict focus on doing healthy things to keep your cup filled, it is easy to burn out. That is why there is a heavy focus on wellness during the orientation and your career here at WCC. It takes a special type of person to be the calm voice on the other end of the line when someone calls 9-1-1, so we take a special focus on making sure the amazing people who do the work have access to the knowledge and tools to remain resilient and healthy.
Both during orientation and what follows, a goal is to introduce our new team members to as many new smiling faces here at WCC as possible, to make you feel welcomed in your new career.
Emergency Medical and Emergency Fire Dispatch Certification
After 3 days of orientation and a relaxing weekend, you will return to WCC for your Emergency Medical and Emergency Fire Dispatch certification.
WCC utilizes the protocols of the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) and pays for a week of training for new team members to become certified. These protocols are backed by decades of data and science and assure a consistent, high level of service.
When someone calls in with a medical or fire emergency, you, as a new 9-1-1 professional, will have a strong protocol to follow so that you never have to “wing it”.
Imagine being a call taker on your first day taking calls and hearing “I think my husband is having a heart attack!”. Yes, your heart may flutter a bit, but you can take comfort in knowing exactly what to do to get the right help, to the right place, at the right time, while having a script that makes you sound like a pro! The protocols cover everything from telephonic CPR instructions, baby delivery, the Heimlich maneuver, instructions on how to escape from a burning building safely, and more!
Resources
Non-Emergency Phone Number
