Think about how edgy you feel when you leave your phone in the car or plug it in a few feet away at, say, a coffee shop. Imagine if your belongings were always out of your possession like this, while you’re busy taking critical dispatch calls. This is where personal lockers come in—and they offer plenty of other benefits as well.

(NOTE: This article was originally written for 911training.net)

We all understand that 9-1-1 dispatch centers serve as the vital bridge connecting individuals in distress with the timely aid of first responders. However, the often-overlooked factor of the culture within these centers can profoundly influence the morale and job satisfaction of staff, ultimately impacting the ability to provide effective emergency services.

Computer monitors cause all kinds of headaches. Finance may not like the price, IT may hate the installation process, visitors may trip over all the cords, and, most importantly, monitors may literally give computer users headaches. And that is too bad because dispatchers rely on computer monitors—lots of computer monitors—to help people. Aside from the misery for the person with the headache, consider this statistic: Migraines alone cost $11 billion in medical spending and another $11 billion in lost productivity. That’s per year.

Internet search engines—and people, for that matter—love lists. Top 5 Happy Hours! Top 10 Places to Live! So, I wanted to write Top 5 Dispatch Center Layouts! Then, I quickly self-corrected because the only Top Layout is the one that works for the unique needs of your center and helps you serve your community.

To achieve a goal—like launching, expanding, or remodeling a control center or dispatch center—you need to start with a realistic completion date. Without this target date and supporting milestones, you have nothing to aim for and nothing to hold you accountable. The timeline will be as custom as your project, and can range anywhere from 4 months to 4 years. The typical timeframes here can help you get started.

People who work in dispatch centers are experts in all kinds of emergency and non-emergency situations that I’ll never understand. They are not likely, however, to be experts in remodeling and selecting dispatch center consoles. So once funds are approved for a remodel or expansion, who is assigned to manage the project?

It’s easy to say that creating a nicer workspace improves morale—but can you prove it? Tina Buneta can.

Most of us think that interior designers make spaces beautiful with paint, furniture and artwork choices. In the dispatch world, however, I would say that the No. 1 function of an interior designer is to solve space problems. Unless we’re talking about new construction, most centers have space challenges, whether it’s the size or shape of the room or the placement of columns and electrical boxes.

June 2021 marks the 30^th year in business here at Xybix. The Carson family founded Xybix with the goal of enhancing the health and productivity of our valuable dispatch, command & control and healthcare workers with our ergonomic consoles. We’re proud to say that we’re continually meeting that goal while moving the goalposts to provide even better products to our customers. And we’re also proud that we’ve been able to provide so many stable jobs through the design, engineering and manufacturing of our high-quality, made-in-the USA products.

Ready to get Back in Black? If your tax base and funding took a hit during the pandemic—stalling much-needed projects—you may be in luck. The $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed in March includes $350 billion in pandemic recovery funds for state and local governments. According to the spending guidelines, upgrades to emergency dispatch center, command & control centers and healthcare environments likely qualify for these funds.