By B Welch
St. Joseph News-Press
The Communications Center located at the St. Joseph Law Enforcement Center handles a number of duties, including answering 911 calls and dispatching first responders, and the operators who work there are known by emergency personnel as the unsung heroes who help keep the city and county safe.
Last year, the Communications Center answered around 209,000 phone calls, which is over 570 a day.
In June of this year, they answered over 13,500 calls.
Capt. Jennifer Protzman runs the comm center and said their duties go well beyond answering phones.
While they do answer 911 calls and dispatch emergency responders countywide, they also answer nonemergency calls and conduct data entry dealing with stolen property and warrant information.
Protzman said many of the calls they answer are moments from the worst day of a callers’ life, which can be stressful for the operators, who must gather information in a calm manner and relay it to first responders.
“People don’t realize the amount, with all the phones ringing and all the other duties that they have. They’re under quite a bit of stress and they get the front side of the calls that happen but they don’t always get the end result,” Protzman said.
Counseling is available for the operators but is not required.
By state law, dispatchers have to have 24 hours of training in a three-year period and 40 hours of training when they start.
Protzman said the dispatchers in St. Joseph receive much more training than is required.
“We go well above that,” Protzman said. “We give our new dispatchers training for over 500 hours, roughly five months. We break it up into different segments so they can easily grasp and be proficient in those areas before they move on to another area.”
911 Supervisor Genny Norton, who also serves as the center’s training coordinator, has been an operator for 23 years.
She said the comm center is in the process of training its 22nd member, which is the full number of staff that the city has allocated funding for in its budget.
Norton said there are a lot of memorable moments for 911 operators, but she will certainly never forget the phone calls coming in on July 4 of this year, when a house exploded on the North Side of the city.
“We all knew that it was something more than just fireworks because all of our 911 lines lit up all at once and we have seven 911 lines, so, it’s very unusual for them all to light up at once,” Norton said.
She said she had to stop answering calls eventually so she could dispatch help to the area.
The majority of calls that the operators handle are police calls. Over 7,000 of the calls that the center dispatched last month were for the police.
Police Chief Chris Connally, who has actually worked as a dispatcher, said that the comm center is vital for officers in the field.
“The critical role that they play, I think is underestimated by a lot, because they really are the first contact with public safety, which is so important because, not only do they set the tone, but they gather that critical information that first responders need in order to respond,” Connally said.
Lifesaving technology
Technology has changed the field since Connally was answering phones.
Communications Supervisor Dawn Hill has been assigned to work with the department’s network administrator and has become very familiar with the center’s technology.
“In today’s age for the communications operator, everything that they utilize is computer-based,” Hill said.
The operators have four computer screens at their work stations, which are used to answer calls, relay information and even operate emergency weather alert sirens.
The computers also allow the operators to zero in on a caller’s location and answer text messages that are sent through text 911.
Computers in emergency vehicles and even buildings such as the fire stations receive information from the comm center.
Hill said the technology is great, but also adds to the workload.
“As we increase in call load and different things, it’s hard to find that extra time to process the text messages that are now coming in or email sources that we’re using or different internet resources we’re using,” Hill said. “Really there’s more that could be used if we had additional staffing.”
She said additional mapping software that would allow the layout of a building and the ability to send videos or photos from a cellphone are technologies that are coming to the center next.
Medical emergencies
When an ambulance and EMTs are needed, the comm center transfers the call to Buchanan County EMS.
Dispatch Supervisor for EMS Brett Christenson said their dispatchers can give medical instructions while an ambulance is on the way.
“(We can do) any pre-arrival instructions that we need to give, help start CPR, breathing control, we can even deliver babies over the phone; we’ve had some of those,” Christenson said.
They answer roughly 40 calls a day but require some cooperation in order to get the best results.
“It all depends on the caller, everything that we do depends on how able the caller is to do things,” Christenson said. “We’ve got some people that don’t want to do anything.”
Recently, local 10-year-old Annmarie Calderon saved her mother’s life by calling 911 when her mom was passed out due to low blood sugar.
Christenson said Annmarie did a good job of following instructions and the dispatchers were able to help her.
“They calmed her down, told her exactly what they needed to do, and she did great. Those are the good stories,” Christenson said.
Annmarie was given a Community Lifesaver Award for helping her mother and keeping her cousins who were in the house calm during the process.
At the award ceremony, the 911 call was played and she got the opportunity to meet the dispatchers who helped her.
Regina Calderon, Annmarie’s mother, said that she was extremely proud of her daughter, as we’re the 911 operators.
“I met both of them and told them, ‘Thank you so much for helping my daughter,’ and she said, ‘I think your daughter did a better job than most people we talk to,’” Calderon said.
Calm during crisis
With all of the duties that the dispatchers have, many emergency responders feel that the most important aspect of the job is their ability to remain calm during stressful situations.
Training Officer for the St. Joseph Fire Department Bill Lamar said that their calmness can keep firefighters calm in a fire, but at the same time, the firefighter’s ability to remain calm on the radio keeps the dispatchers calm.
This allows information to continue to flow, which keeps everyone safe.
“They’re vital to our needs as far as getting out and protecting the safety of the public and their property,” Lamar said.
Copyright 2017 St. Joseph News-Press