ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) – During a pandemic, when the public needs a calm voice on the other end of a 911 call the most, communities across the country are celebrating National Telecommunicator Appreciation Week.
All week, volunteers and businesses have been delivering gifts and meals to dispatch centers in Indiana and Kentucky. Christopher Lee, who works as a dispatcher in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, said although the world outside in changing, dispatchers have to carry on for the safety of everyone else.
“We’re just here for everybody and we’re trying to save lives,” Lee said. “We get to be that voice in the dark in people’s worst times possible in their lives. We’re just trying to keep them safe while the world is falling apart around them.”
Lee said call volume has stayed about the same as before the pandemic hit Kentucky. The types of calls, however, are changing. The number of traffic-related calls are down, while the number of calls asking for information about COVID-19 and reporting domestic situations and theft are up.
“When people are all pent up together, they get aggravated with one another,” Lee said. “And that reflects in the calls, too. Things like domestics and thefts and things like that are up, because a lot of people are out of work and people are cooped up together.”
The Elizabethtown dispatch center is taking extra safety precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 inside and outside of the facility. Each dispatcher must sanitize his or her station when starting and ending a shift. They are also supposed to limit going anywhere else inside the police department and practice social distancing. Wearing masks is not required, but masks are available.
Dispatchers are also taking additional measures to protect first responders and the public by asking callers three questions before sending anyone to go help: "Have you had contact with anyone testing positive for COVID-19? Do you have any symptoms? Have you been outside the country?"
Providing honest answers to these questions allows dispatchers to properly prepare any first responders heading to the location.
The pandemic can take a toll on an already stressful career as a dispatcher, so dispatchers in Elizabethtown are also being given some extra time off during the week as mental-health breaks.
Dispatchers at Louisville Metro Emergency Service’s MetroSafe are also taking safety precautions during the pandemic. Stations are being sanitized daily, and dispatchers are not to wander into other areas of MetroSafe headquarters. Temperatures are also being taken each day.
To show support for telecommunicators, the Big Four Bridge and Lynn Family Stadium were lit with golden lights. Employees with MetroSafe said they truly appreciate the public’s support during these stressful times.
"It’s on everyone’s minds; it’s on our minds," said Emily David with MetroSafe. "Even just a kind word is all you really need to get you through and keep on going."
All David asks is that, while dispatchers work hard to keep the public safe, everyone else works hard to stay healthy at home.
From the WDRB News family, thank you to all the dispatchers serving our communities.
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