When the worst happens, we rely on the people who answer the call to be there.

We need the police to stand between us and violence. We need firefighters to walk into flames. We need paramedics and emergency medical technicians to stop the bleeding.

But while those are the first responders we see, we cannot forget the ones who actually answer the call.

A bill before the Pennsylvania Senate would recognize that reality. House Bill 453 would reclassify 911 dispatchers as first responders.

Why does that matter? Is putting dispatchers in a particular occupational box that important?

It is. It’s a label that can be instrumental in accessing care.

It builds on a 2024 law that helps police, firefighters and EMS personnel seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

First responders are on the scene, dealing with the same trauma as victims and witnesses. There is no question why a police officer can have trouble coping after a mass casualty event or why a firefighter could struggle to walk back into a burning building after someone was lost.

But just because a dispatcher is on the phone does not separate them from the horror.

These operators do not get blood on their hands. What they take home are the fearful whispers or the terrified screams. Their days are steeped in the grief of people afraid of losing someone they love — or realizing it already has happened.

These are not chatbots connecting calls, detached and emotionless. While they must maintain calm in the face of any emergency, they are human.

“The range of emotions can swing in extreme directions,” said Jon Jaso of Sharpsburg, an Allegheny County dispatcher for more than three decades.

Nationwide, dispatchers face the same kind of mental and emotional toll as other first responders. However, it can be less recognized, perhaps because of the lack of physical danger.

But there is a danger for the public in not appreciating that load.

Emergency dispatchers do not just suffer from PTSD and other stress-related conditions. The job itself carries another risk: burnout.

The People Lab at Harvard University identified 911 operators as sitting at the intersection of two high-risk groups. Frontline workers — those who interact with the public — and first responders both experience high levels of burnout. That can feed even higher stress when burned-out employees quit, increasing the call volume on those who remain.

That is why this legislation matters. House Bill 453 would recognize what dispatchers already are — first responders — and make sure that recognition carries the support they need to keep doing the job.

Having passed the House in a rare, unanimous vote, the issue is now served up to the Senate. If the normal political wrangling could be avoided in the narrowly Democratic House, there’s no reason for it to get bogged down in the Republican-led Senate.

There’s no downside to identifying and prioritizing first responders — all of them — in getting appropriate support. In the end, that ensures the best outcomes in all emergencies.