HOLIDAYS BRING FEAST OR FAMINE FOR 911 WORKERS

Police dispatchers, ambulance crews and firefighters forced to work on Thanksgiving had little to do but gear up for today -- traditionally a hectic 24 hours for emergency workers.

Randon Grissom and Cheryl Stoffregen, communicators with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, worked in the 911 emergency center Thursday. They talked about their jobs, told a few anecdotes, explained the computer system and waited for a 911 call.

And waited.

And waited.

The 911 line didn't ring from 1 to 3 p.m. -- not a single call. Around 3 p.m., someone called to report a car on fire, then called back to say the flames were out.

Grissom predicted today would be much different. The day after Thanksgiving, 911 operators field shoplifting reports for hours. Just as people buying Christmas gifts rush out to get the best, so do shoplifters, who often have elaborate equipment and methods to escape detection.

Many of them come to Cape Girardeau from other cities to do their crimes.

At the Cape County Private Ambulance Service, paramedics and EMTs feasted on a Thanksgiving dinner cooked right in the office, then played cards or watched football on television.

They said they liked things slow on holidays -- it means nobody's friend or relative is hurt and needs help.

But the paramedics also predicted a busy day today. Most of the calls will be for transfers, they said, which means taking nursing home residents home from the hospital. These calls often result from adult offspring who haven't seen their parents in a year and are stunned to find how frail they have become.

The children may demand to have a parent taken to the hospital for an examination, even though the parent simply has aged in the past several months.

Other day-after calls are for people who ate leftover turkey that was improperly heated or refrigerated.

"Any fowl or poultry left out more than an hour or two can pick up bacteria," paramedic Chuck Burkart said. "And people may eat too much and think they're having a heart attack. An upset stomach may be anything from severe indigestion to a heart attack."

A few families were in the emergency room at Southeast Missouri Hospital on Thanksgiving afternoon, but Dr. Richard Draper said he expected more people later. Formerly an emergency room physician in Kansas City, Draper said the holidays mean an increase in visits from victims of domestic violence and depression.

And he agreed with the paramedics -- adult children bring in their parents for evaluations.

"It isn't so bad for the doctors and employees here who work Thanksgiving," Draper said. "We spend more time with the people at work than we do our families. The holidays are really sad for people who aren't working and have no one around."

In general, the winter holiday period can be busy for emergency workers. All agreed that there are more people on the road, so there are more accidents. The number of 911 calls regarding attempted suicides or people contemplating suicide also increase.

It can make the job tough to endure.

"We have a six-days-on, three-days-off schedule," Grissom, the police communicator, said. "During those six days of work, you need about an hour of time after you go home before you can deal with anyone."