Chicago’s Channel 7/ABC News featured the Quiet Rooms that FGMA designed for the renovations of the Cook County 911 Dispatch Center in its March 23 evening broadcasts.
Emergency dispatchers experience high stress levels due to the urgency and high call volume they deal with on a daily basis. Research shows that persistent stress takes a toll on people’s physical and mental health.
“We are pretty much the first first responder. So, we get the initial calls of people screaming, the initial panic…” Michelle Dorn, Cook County 911
Channel 7’s story spotlights the new Quiet Rooms at Cook County 911 that are specifically designed – through color and light choices, acoustics and sound elements, furniture, and other features – to help first responders decompress and re-calibrate.
Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart says, “The public will never understand what these people go through…And that’s why these sorts of rooms really need to (become) the norm.”
Channel 7’s story also features Dr. Joel Robertson, a leading brain science researcher that FGMA has worked with extensively to inform our evidence-based designs for Quiet Rooms.
Follow this link to the Channel 7 news segment and have a quick look at Cook County 911’s Quiet Rooms!
https://abc7chicago.com/amp/cook-county-sheriffs-office-911-dispatchers-what-is-a-quiet-room-dispatcher/12999030/