Allegheny County’s 911 Center is moving away from crisis after two suicide attempts earlier this year.
The county is implementing a number of changes to keep the people who take your emergency calls focused and in good health.
When you call 911, the voice you usually hear on the other end of the line is calm, professional, reassuring. But for years, the work environment for the call takers at the Allegheny 911 Center has been a distraction.
“You have very irregular hours, led to short staffing, led to a lot of mandated overtime. It can be a very stressful job,” said SEIU 668 President Steve Catanese. “Allegheny seems to be a place where you have more people impacted at a larger scale, and you tend to have more problems.”
This week, county leaders released their list of changes to improve morale at the center as they held their second closed-door town hall meeting with employees. The changes include support and stress management teams, training programs and space for counseling, and therapy dogs. Dogs, like Goose, who’s training at Valley Ambulance Authority to become the area’s first stress hormone-sniffing dog.
“People like what they heard. There were some questions that they had good back and forth on, but what they really want to see is the follow-up on the commitment,” said Catanese. “This is the first time they’ve seen a county executive come in and have those type of conversations and meet with the workers directly and be open to addressing their concerns and their issues.”
County leaders said there are two changes that still have to be made, like contracting with mental health providers who specialize in call takers and developing a long-term plan to improve the workplace.
“This is the most significant set of like commitments I know that I’ve seen some of the more senior workers have seen in a long time, if ever,” Catanese added.
The union expects the changes will happen through the fall and winter.
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