Many hazards are associated with first responders, but the risk of compassion fatigue is often overlooked or minimized. Merriam-Webster defines compassion fatigue as “the physical and mental exhaustion and emotional withdrawal experienced by those who care for sick or traumatized people over an extended period of time.”
When shopping for a records management system, CAD, and JMS, many tech buyers are eager to select a provider that offers an all-in-one package. For many users, all-in-one is, simply, simpler.
The problem?
No one provider can truly specialize in all products.
For this edition of Day in the Life, we had a great conversation with Danielle Rhodes who is the Emergency Management Director for Stephens County 9-1-1.
Last week was National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (NPSTW) and to celebrate Zetron wanted to honor those who have gone above and beyond in their duties, exhibited exceptional skills, dedication, and compassion on the job. This led to the creation of the first annual Golden Headset Awards. People in the industry were able to nominate themselves and their co-workers for a variety of categories including Best Telecommunicator/Dispatcher, Best Overall Emergency Communications Team and more. After highlighting some of these great stories throughout NPSTW, we wanted to share a roundup of the winners. Thank you to these, and all the amazing telecommunicators out there. The Golden Headset Award for Best Telecommunicator/Dispatcher Leader, Mentor or Trainer goes to… Mary Schutts of Warren County Communications Center “Mary has been with our center for a little over 17 years. She has trained countless PST’s over the years and everyone that she trained has been exceptional. Although Mary self admits she doesn’t like training, she does it for the trainee to ensure they are trained properly and competently as well as the center and our user agencies. When Mary is not training someone, she is training the center by creating crossword puzzles for not only other trainees but also veteran staff to learn from as new technology makes its way into the center. I personally have learned a lot from Mary through this method. Mary’s colorful personality helps other staff members during difficult times. She is always a welcomed member on the floor no matter what shift she works.” — Gary Hill, Public Safety Telecommunicator for Warren County Communications Center The Golden Headset Award for Best Overall Telecommunicator/Dispatcher goes to… Morgan Saunders of Linn County E-9-1-1 Central Dispatch “I believe Morgan deserves this award because on June 27th, 2022, as a part time employee of another dispatch center, she took the FIRST 911 call of many, when an Amtrak train carrying 270 passengers and 12 crew members struck a dump truck and derailed in Mid-Missouri. It was Morgan’s first day on her own following her training period. She showed compassion, hard work, teamwork, and many other valuable skills that day as hundreds of field units responded to assist with the passengers. Even after something as traumatic as a Mass Casualty Incident, Morgan has continued to assist her community in dispatch. She does not like recognition for the amazing job she did that day and everyday, but she deserves it!” — Shelby Creed, 9-1-1 Director for Linn County E-9-1-1 Central Dispatch The Golden Headset Award for Best Telecommunicator/Dispatcher Team Leader goes to… Lt. Michelle Warren, Supervising Telecommunicator of Warren County Communications Center “Lt. Michelle Warren has been with our center for over 20 years. As a higher-ranking supervisor, she was promoted into the records department of communications a few years ago. However, due the staffing crisis of the center, Michelle offered to go back onto the floor on the night shift to help with the shortage. She also has put in an amazing amount of overtime on the other shifts. When Lt. Warren walks into the room she is often welcomed as a ray of sunshine. Furthermore, she helps with our training program by putting together training binders and offering insight into the overall program. She is an uplifting individual that many look up to here at the center.” — Gary Hill, Public Safety Telecommunicator for Warren County Communications Center We had an overwhelming amount of great nominations for this next category, so we’ve chosen two winners! The Golden Headset Award for Best Overall Emergency Communications Team goes to… Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office Communications Division “During 2020 when Hurricane Laura hit our dispatchers were working and on the phones with callers needing rescuing during the height of the storm when the roof to the communications center blew off. The girls stayed at their post with water pouring on them. They had to be forced to hang up the phones an evacuate. Once evacuated we had set up a new dispatch center in under 15 minutes. Our parish took a major hit and most of the dispatchers lost their homes but stayed at work. All the dispatchers ended getting Covid and worked sick because there was no one else that could do their jobs with our equipment and dispatch for our agency and the 16 others that came to help. for our agency and 16 others that came to help. Everyone slept on air mattresses and used porta pottys for 5 weeks then we were finally able to go home. Only to be called back 3 days later to go back to the office for Hurricane Delta which hit 6 weeks after Hurricane Laura. We were still working out of a temporary dispatch center and again we were living at the office and sleeping on air mattresses for an extended time. Eventually things started to settle and in November we got a temporary building that we moved our dispatch center into and worked in it for 2 years. While working in the temporary building we were hit with an Ice Storm (yes on the Louisiana coast!) and three months later we were hit with a storm that caused historic flooding and damaged the roof on the temporary dispatch center. The temporary dispatch building had no plumbing, and you would have to leave to go to bathroom in all types of weather, but they all kept their spirits up. In April of 2022 we were able to move back into home, our newly rebuilt state of the art dispatch center and it’s been truly amazing. These girls and guys have been through hell and back with hurricanes, extreme weather and Covid sickness, and truly deserve to be rewarded and recognized for all that they did. They gave up family for extended time while dealing with personal losses at the same time. They showed us what dedication means through their actions and willingness to help. They stepped up every occasion and gave they all even when they didn’t think they had anything left. They are true heroes to our community and our office.” — Lacey Greaney, Communication Infrastructure Manager for Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office The Golden Headset Award for Best Overall Emergency Communications Team goes to… Jersey City Public Safety The JCPS Dispatch team has been a fantastic group of professionals for many years. Throughout COVID, hiring Freezes, and the daily struggles of being an urban dispatch center –I have never seen such a group of dedicated individuals. In December of 2019 their skills were on display nationwide where the team fielded and coordinated a massive Law Enforcement Response for an Active Shooter, with hundreds of rounds fired at public safety. This several hour ordeal involved active pipe bombs and shooter(s) on a city street between two schools (less than 100 feet away), and an ambushed fallen Police Officer found at a secondary crime scene all while coordinating school lockdowns, and regular traffic. I firmly believe that this team deserves some external recognition, just for morale’s sake after many years of being the silent underdog. Three members of the team passing during the pandemic, with the aforementioned hiring freeze, has stretched these professionals to the max –and they still come to work everyday. — Jersey City Public Safety Administration Member
Trying to capture the importance of, or even what a telecommunicator does day-to-day is virtually impossible. Even those in the field often fall short of describing the true essence of everything telecommunicators do. With National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week (NPSTW) approaching, we want to pull back the curtain a bit and not only share the history of this celebratory week but examine how these superheroes impact each of us, often behind the scenes.
In this edition of Day in the Life, we feature Melissa Alterio, Director of Cobb County 911. Her enthusiasm for her industry and compassion for Dispatchers and their work is evident and infectious.
Zetron is honored to work with mission critical communications professionals across a wide array of applications and industries. Our daily interactions with these extraordinary individuals inspired us to launch our Day in the Life blog series. The series gives us a chance to talk with some amazing people and share Q&As, stories, anecdotes and whatever else they’re willing to share to give us and our blog subscribers an inside look at the many roles and facets of critical communications. Our objective is simply to share different perspectives, proliferate learning, inspire collaboration and to celebrate exceptional, often unsung, people, teams and organizations who are making a big difference in their day-to-day. For this edition of Day in the Life, we had the opportunity to talk with Mike Weaver who is the director for Lancaster County-Wide Communications. Mike talks to us about his role, how his team operates and how important their work is. Mike Weaver Director, Lancaster County-Wide Communications Pennsylvania, USA Want to see other installments of Zetron Presents: Day in the Life? Check it out here.
Rotating shifts are an inevitable part of working in public safety. And for some people, working odd hours can feel like a bonus that allows them to sleep in, spend more time with family, and shop with fewer crowds.
Ask an emergency telecommunicator what concerns them about their health and well-being and many, if not most, will say job stress is one major factor. But it doesn’t have to be this way!
Interoperable communications in public safety and emergency response are essential in our increasingly complex world and how we communicate. With communities having multiple police, fire, and medical jurisdictions, it’s become even more vital they’re able to communicate for the safety of the community and the responders….
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