This week, York County will show its appreciation for the men and women who answer dozens of calls each day: “911, do you need police, fire or medical?”
Tracey Loss has been a dispatcher with York County Public Safety Communications for nearly eight years and says no two days in the dispatch center are the same.
“You never know what you’re gonna get when you answer the phone,” she said. “You don’t know if it’s gonna be someone reporting littering or someone is unconscious and not breathing and you have to do CPR.”
Dispatchers work 12-hour shifts starting at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m., with shifts alternating every 28 days. The York County center receives all 911 calls in the county and dispatches fire, EMS, the York County Sheriff’s Office and Tega Cay Police, according to Ralph Merchant, 911 operations manager. After hours, they also dispatch Animal Control, the Department of Social Services and the American Red Cross.
“Basically, this is where all 911 calls for service come in,” he said.
The process of becoming a dispatcher takes about a year, Merchant said, with the hiring process and training each about six months.
The national average length of stay for a dispatcher is about three years, Merchant said. Some of York County’s dispatchers are fairly new while others have worked there more than 15 years.
“It’s a high-stress job,” he said. “When people call you, they’re either mad because somebody just stole something from them, they’re scared because their family member is lying on the ground and not breathing – they’re usually screaming.”
Loss said some people who call 911 are yelling at the dispatcher or so overcome with panic they can’t even provide their location. Others get impatient with the dispatcher’s questions.
“A lot of people think now, because of cellphones, they don’t have to give us their location,” she said. “But you do. Not all cellphones will plot for us. And when they do, some of them are not accurate.”
Merchant said another thing people don’t know about 911 is that fire and EMS personnel have to wait for police to secure a scene where a violent crime was called in, and callers will ask dispatch why first responders are there but not entering.
“We have a responsibility to (first responders), too,” he said. “We want to make sure they go home to their families, too. If they get shot, who’s gonna take care of the people that were shot?”
Some dispatchers, including York County’s, are trained in first aid and can instruct people over the phone in CPR for adults, children or infants. They also can instruct a caller on how to provide aid to a choking person, stop bleeding or even deliver a baby.
“That’s one of the ones that are rewarding,” Loss said, recalling a 1 a.m. call during a night shift in December 2014.
“Nothing going on – silence,” she said. “I answered the phone, a gentleman said, ‘My wife’s having a baby and I don’t think she’s gonna make it (to the hospital).’”
Dispatchers have sets of guide cards for pre-arrival instructions, in case they have to instruct a caller in providing aid.
“He did great. He did exactly what I told him to do. He delivered the baby just fine,” Loss said of the new father. “I was so grateful that he held it together, because if he hadn’t done exactly what I told him to, it could have been different.”
Not all calls end on such a happy note.
“This call, it ended well and it was a very good day for them,” she said. “Most of the time, they’re not calling because it’s a good day.”
The job has its moments of comic relief, Loss said, mainly from the bizarre non-emergencies people call in.
“People call over minor disagreements,” she said. “They’ve called because restaurants have gotten their orders wrong and they want the police to go out there. Someone’s called because someone gave them bad marijuana.”
This week, 911 centers and first responders nationwide will take time to show appreciation to dispatchers during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
Merchant didn’t specify what was planned for this week but said in the past they’ve cooked or catered meals for the dispatchers, and sometimes the administrative staff will man the center while the dispatchers sit outside to enjoy lunch. Law enforcement, EMS and fire agencies have brought them little gifts such as T-shirts or gift cards.
“We do little things around here. We try to make them feel special,” he said.
York County Public Safety Communications has openings and will be at community events and job fairs talking with people who are interested in becoming dispatchers.
“You have to want to help people. You can’t just come in and be here as a job,” Loss said. “Be prepared for anything. It’s different every day.”
In a job with no room for error, it’s easy to get caught up on the bad calls, she said. But each new phone call brings another chance to change someone’s life.
“You have a sense of calm that you did everything you could that day,” she said, “and know that what you did helped someone, maybe.”
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