Recognition deserved: Carson City dispatch navigates critical information around the clock

They’re always at the other end of the line, the lifeline between those who have emergencies and the first responders. They are rooted at the very center, disseminating information as it comes in. Their work is absolutely essential because every second counts.

This week Carson City recognizes 911 dispatchers for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Each year during the second week of April, telecommunications personnel in the public safety community are recognized for their heroic efforts alongside Carson City sheriff’s office deputies, firefighters and ambulance personnel.

Their jobs require organized quick-thinking, precise multi-tasking and the kind of care it takes when callers may be injured or are dealing with someone who is injured; or are a victim of a crime or have witnessed a crime and are reporting it.

It’s a profession that requires the person behind the phone to bring order to chaotic situations while supplying deputies, EMT and firefighters with critical information they need in order to respond to the call safely.

Communications Manager Karin Mracek began her career as a dispatcher 26 years ago. She said dispatching is a profession built on a firm foundation of caring for people — those who are calling for help and the first responders.

“It’s a family that requires teamwork, each of us work together to perform to the best of our abilities,” she said.

The tragic shooting death of Carson City Sheriff’s Office Deputy Carl Howell on Saturday, August 15, 2015 remains “an open wound” in her division, she said. Deputy Howell was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence call.

“We do feel the hurt and we’ve worked together in many ways to deal with it,” she said. “It’s the kind of hurt that will never go away but we’ve learned to move forward because we have to move forward.”

Also in the past year the communications division, made up of 21 employees including 19 dispatchers and supervisors, underwent a $1.2 million computer software overhaul of epic proportions. On Feb. 23 the 15-year-old computer system was shut down and the new software system turned on. Notwithstanding a few technical hiccups, the implementation had no impact or delay to any city or emergency services. Each dispatcher went through a week’s worth of training to prepare for the switch.

“If you consider the undertaking of this, affecting every dispatcher and taking them out of the routine they’ve known for years, they really came together to make it work,” said Mracek. “Carson City can be proud that we have very strong, skilled and talented people working here. The city can be confident in knowing that they are doing a great job.”

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said the city is in very good hands with the level of professionalism. He noted the dispatch division was the recipient of this year’s CCSO Team Award for 2015.

“That division of the department is one of the divisions we are most proud of. They’ve been through some of the most excruciating challenges as a team, and then with that the amount of training over the past year for the software change,” said Furlong. “In a field like dispatch, considered one of the toughest professions when it comes to keeping employees, I could not be more proud of a group of folks than those on our dispatch team. I am so very, very proud of them.”

To watch the dispatch center at work is a sight beyond seeing four people behind a network of computers and maps, each talking on the phone and communicating with individual deputies, EMTs and fire department battalion chiefs.

It’s how they work together as a thread that makes dispatch the lifeline, explained Marlon Moncada, one of six Communications Supervisors for Carson City. There can be times where it is quiet, if only for a few minutes, but at any given time, there could be three medical calls, calls of crimes happening, structure fires and brush fires.

On Tuesday morning, for example, going on simultaneously were dispatchers assisting two callers with ambulances, a caller reporting theft, a deputy requesting information on a driver and a small kitchen fire. Even while each dispatcher focused on the calls at hand, they were also aware of what each other had their hands on. When a 911 call was made to report a fire inside a kitchen, all four dispatchers and Moncada knew about it.

“It’s a lot of juggling,” he said, noting the randomness of any given day of a 12-hour shift.

Callers can often be distressed. It is up to the dispatcher to get the caller to give an assurance they are there to help, to explain the situation and where they are at, said Moncada, who has been with Carson City dispatch for 12 years.

“Though calls are similar, every call is different,” he said. “No situation is the same. Everyone on the other end is dealing with their emergency and we are getting the information from them, prioritizing the information to get them the help they need.”

Together as a team, it also takes a sense of humor to get through the day. During the down times, which can last 2 to 5 minutes, dispatchers will catch up with each other, what they’re doing, where they’re going after work and their plans for the weekend.

And everyone knows that any light levity in a serious job, only makes the day better.

If you don’t have a sense of humor, you won’t make it as a dispatcher, said Wendy Talavera who has been a CCSO dispatcher just shy of 11 years. “You can have a really tough day, take a lot of calls and you can always count on one of us to say something that isn’t serious even if it is only for a few seconds to take our minds off of the tough calls.”

That’s because the tough calls do happen. All the time.

“There are calls that don’t end when the line is disconnected. There are calls that you take that will carry with you through your career,” she said.

Maricela Ceballos, a CCSO dispatcher for 12 years, said the variety of calls is something most outside of her profession may not understand.

“What most people don’t know about the job? How many barking dog complaints there are,” she said with a quick smile. “Actually it is the range most people may not understand. In any given day you are faced with anything from animal control issues to public works to those reporting they’ve been battered. There’s calls where you are helping people after an overdose, or those afraid someone is going to hurt them. A day can go from parking problems to homicides.”