By Michael Manekin
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
Imagine the phone rings and you’re talking with a child trapped in a burning building. Or a woman who has just been raped.
Imagine hearing the screams of a domestic abuse victim or the wailing of a child who has just been hit by a truck.
For Kevin Willet, who spent 10 years answering 9-1-1 calls for the Redwood City Police Department, imagination is not necessary. In his experience as a dispatcher, he fielded all of these calls.
Life as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, said Willet, presents unique rewards -- but brutal challenges.
“Almost every call that we get is bad news,” said Willet. “People don’t call
9-1-1 when they have good news. And we are thrust into a position of being the lifeline for a person’s safety.”
Willet knows these calls can take a huge emotional toll. So, the 45-year-old veteran dispatcher decided to do something about it. He established 911 CARES, an organization whose mission is to provide support for the nation’s emergency dispatchers.
By offering stress management and a little appreciation for the folks whostaff the nation’s approximately 9,500 emergency call centers, 911 CARES has filled a vacuum for an often overlooked segment of first-responders -- in essence, helping the helpers.
After six years running 911 CARES, Willet was formally recognized in Washington, D.C., at a 400-guest banquet this week. The event was held by the E9-1-1 Institute, which supports the Congressional E9-1-1 Caucus designed to improve the national 9-1-1 system.
Loud applause and flashing cameras followed Willet onstage, as Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, presented the dispatcher with the institute’s “Community Service Award” -- an honor expressly created for Willet this year.
“You know, it was truly overwhelming,” Willet recalled of Tuesday night’s event. “From the moment they said my name to the moment I walked off stage, it was all a blur.”
Willet -- who now works as a trainer for Public Safety Training Consultants, a Redwood Shores company that trains emergency dispatchers across the country -- went straight back to work Wednesday morning, instructing emergency responders in Washington, D.C., how to do their jobs even better.
For Willet, the time spent tending 911 CARES has been strictly volunteer, right from the moment he first got the idea. That came six years ago, on Sept. 11. Willet said he thought immediately of the dispatchers in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksburg, Pa., and wondered how they could be coping.
Following the attacks, Willet and a fellow dispatcher diligently contacted the call centers in the affected areas and asked how they could help. The answer appeared to be offering emotional support. The experience planted the seeds for 911 CARES.
Today, Willet’s organization has a team of volunteers that travels across the country to counsel dispatchers in the event of a disaster. The community also looks out for one another, donating money and adding emotional support, like a card or artwork sent through the mail. After Hurricane Katrina, dispatchers “adopted” 185 families -- many included fellow dispatchers -- who fell victim to the storm, sending money, supplies, even a car.
“Too often, we forget the incredible emotional and physical toll that is taken on emergency communicators,” said Gregory Rohde, executive director of the E9-1-1 Institute. “911 CARES fills a very necessary and welcome psychological purpose.”
Shaida Sabin, who answers 9-1-1 calls for the Foster City Police Department, said being a dispatcher takes “a certain personality,” including “the ability to detach yourself from a horrendous call when it’s happening.”
Still, it’s not always easy. Recently, she got a call from a man on methamphetamine who said he had just killed his wife and kids. Although the call later turned out to be untrue, Sabin said the tone in the man’s voice left her shaken for days.
Sabin, who is friendly with Willet through her work as a dispatcher, said 911 CARES offers the kind of emotional support for a job too often overlooked.
“We’re actually the lifeline between officers and citizens,” said Sabin. “We’re in the background, but we’re extremely important.”