It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.
Time for some sh** you need to know.
Six Ukrainian trauma surgeons traveled to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a two-week intensive training program in advanced microsurgery techniques.
The surgeons treat severe war injuries caused by Russia's invasions, including amputations, nerve damage, and devastating blast injuries from missiles and drones.
Microsurgery can help save limbs, restore function and improve outcomes for patients who may otherwise face permanent disability.
So UW-Madison has become a global leader in microsurgery training and has developed low-cost portable microscopes that help expand training opportunities worldwide.
The Ukrainian doctors practiced on chicken thighs and cadavers before returning home to apply the skills in hospitals treating war casualties.
UW officials say the partner
highlights Wisconsin's role in advancing medical innovation while helping doctors save lives in one of the world's most active war zones.
That is really cool.
It is cool.
For people who don't believe in science or don't believe in doctors, man, you're wrong.
Right.
Yes,
no.
You are very wrong.
Absolutely wrong.
It's very, very cool.
In other stuff you need to know, a group of 15 young Wisconsinites is appealing a court decision that dismissed their lawsuit over climate change and state energy policies.
The lawsuit argues that Wisconsin laws limiting renewable energy requirements and restricting how regulators consider pollution violate their constitutional rights.
A Dane County judge said the concerns raised by the plaintiffs
are real but ruled that energy and climate policy decisions could be addressed by lawmakers, not the courts.
The young plaintiffs say climate change has already affected their lives through flooding, stronger storms, reduced snowfall, poor water quality, and impacts on outdoor activities like skiing, fishing, and swimming.
Environmental groups backing the lawsuit argue courts have a responsibility to protect constitutional rights when government policies contribute to climate-related harm.
The appeal comes as Wisconsin continues
to see warmer temperatures, heavier rainfall, and more extreme weather like those fast droughts that we were talking about earlier this morning.
While the state remains heavily dependent on electricity generated from coal and natural gas.
I mean, you knew this was going to come.
These young Wisconsinites are not really backing down on this lawsuit.
So not
surprised.
Good.
I love when young people are getting involved and letting their voices be heard and fighting.
Fighting the good fight, as we used to say.
Some other stuff you need to know it might take you a lot longer to get enough walleye for your next fish fry because Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board has approved the next step in creating new walleye fishing regulations for lakes where fish populations are declining.
The DNR is proposing stricter limits on struggling lakes including a one walleye per day limit and an 18 inch minimum size requirement.
Anglers would also be prohibited from keeping walleye between 22 and 28 inches
to protect prime breeding fish and help boost natural reproduction.
The rule would allow the DNR to respond more quickly when surveys show low numbers of young walleye in a lake.
Walleye populations, if you didn't know this, have been declining on many northern Wisconsin lakes for years due to a combination of fishing pressure and environmental changes.
Walleye are one of Wisconsin's most popular sport fish.
They're also currently important to the Ojibwe tribe of making their long-term health important.
for both recreation and tribal traditions.
So I didn't realize... I mean, I know everybody wants to catch walleye.
We all love to eat walleye.
Of course.
I didn't realize there was such a scarcity of walleye.
I had no idea.
You know, this is why we do this segment, because it's all of these underlying things that we didn't know
actually existed, and
it's all stuff you should know.
Hence the title of the segment, right?
Yes.
I'm seeing a lot of text from people who seem to be having trouble with the text to win.
We are working on it.
I
am texting with our tech team right now, making sure that we get this.
word in and ready to roll yet this hour.
So hopefully fingers crossed, somebody is able to do that.
If not, I will remind everybody that when that happens, we are able to take those names and we still put them into the drawing.
So even if you aren't able to do it through the app, we will get it fixed and you will still be entered into the contest with your submissions this morning.
But we are diligently working on that
right
now.
I just wanted to make people aware because there's a lot of text coming in.
Listen, we want the contest to go smoothly as well, so trust us, we are on this.
JB is taking care of it.
See, that's the bonus of Parker when you have one of the suits working on the show, the bosses.
If it was just you and I, and even Frank, because we don't know where Frank is, but if it was just you and I, there'd be trouble.
But we got Jamie on the case, so it will be straightened out.
Post haste.
I am working on it as quickly as I can, but you will be entered.
I promise even if you are getting a bounce back text, we'll be able to keep those and get you into the drawing.
But hopefully by the end of this hour, we'll be good and you'll be good for the rest of the day.
So what's the big story?
Well, this is an interesting one because as we talk about stuff, you need to know because there was a national investigation, a reporting investigation that was recently done.
And this is.
Actually, when you think about this, especially for rural areas, this is a little scary because it found more than one in five dispatch centers.
You know, when we're talking emergency services, all across America's 100 largest cities fail to answer 911 calls quickly enough to meet national standards.
So, yeah, these emergency call centers aim to answer 90% of calls within 15 seconds and 95% within 20 seconds because obviously,
delays affect how quickly police, firefighters, and EMS reach people in a crisis.
Well, staffing shortages remain the biggest challenge.
And a lot of these dispatch centers across the country lost employees during and after.
You didn't want to bring it up again, Brian, but we have to during and after the pandemic due to burnout, which I can
imagine
is a major factor, stress, and the emotional demands of the job.
So these 911 dispatchers are often
obviously handling some very traumatic situations.
Everything from shootings to suicides, overdoses, domestic violence, serious accidents, and even medical emergencies.
all while trying to keep callers calm and gather all of this critical information.
And research has shown that these dispatchers actually face risks of depression themselves, anxiety, acute stress disorders, and even post-traumatic stress disorder because of the nature of their work.
That all makes sense.
Yeah.
And when I, yes, I understand.
COVID was a big stress around this.
There's a difference for me when we look at long-term effects of health from the pandemic and when we go, well, people aren't going to the movie theater.
It's like, no, there's a lot of, this can be direct, there's a direct tie back.
You can...
In other things, when we're blaming COVID still six years later, it's like, all right, let's look at something.
But this one, it's like PTSD, if you're in the service, it might not hit you right away.
But the direct cause of that can be linked back to those experiences.
So that's why when I balk at using COVID as an excuse for everything, there are certain places where it is legit.
And this seems to be one of those legit.
markers in a life or a career that would then set you off down a line for things to get worse mentally.
Now, if you're wondering about this, it turns out that Wisconsin is not necessarily immune.
In fact, some Wisconsin counties have struggled with also staff shortages in recent years, forcing dispatchers to work in mandatory overtime, double shifts, and even extend their hours to keep emergency services running.
Emergency management
throughout the state say that those shortages of staff creates a really vicious cycle.
And we all experience this in our own jobs, right?
Overwork dispatchers burn out, they leave the profession, which places even more pressure on the people who stay there.
So some dispatch centers in this state have made some significant progress by raising wages, improving benefits, investing in employee wellness, and focusing on hiring people
who are really good fit for high stress environments.
In fact, one Wisconsin Dispatch Center highlighted in the report was able to maintain staffing levels near full capacity, helping it consistently meet emergency call answering benchmarks.
You gotta think how obviously these dispatchers are super important no matter what, but when you live in a state as rural as Wisconsin, especially when you have shared services and
sometimes
shared centers, it's probably really important that we're doing a good job taking care of these people who are the first person in some of these situations you're gonna have contact with, I would think.
It's one of those jobs like an air traffic controller where you don't want
people burned out and you want to make sure there's enough people doing the job.
To be honest, when you think of dispatchers in the normal life, most of us don't have to call 911 that often, thank goodness.
So we don't think about the constant stress and imagine if you were in a city like Madison or Milwaukee.
those dispatchers are getting calls non-stop and you know they're timed and it has to be you have to get everything correct and you're the person listening to someone in one of their most dire moments and it has to wear on you so whatever whatever we can do even though most of us may never use this service whatever we can do to make those people
more comfortable and make it them last without burnout.
I think we should be looking into it.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I mean, these are people who sometimes have to walk a parent through CPR.
Sometimes
they
have to help someone report a serious crash on a county road.
Sometimes they have to coordinate multiple agencies that are spread across a really large area.
So these are people who have to be on top of their game and have to be well trained and know exactly what's happening and still at the same time be compassionate and yet sometimes walk people from a point where if
They might be in hysterics because of the situations
around them.
Of course, it's life or death and that's not hyperbole.
It is.
You don't call 911 just as a, you know.
No.
Is it raining today?
No.
No, it's absolutely not.
