LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Whether you are having a heart attack, your house is on fire, your child is missing or you are in an auto accident, you depend on the person who picks up the other end of your 9-1-1 call to help you out during your emergency. Now is the time to celebrate and honor those 9-1-1 operators and dispatchers during National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.

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Telecommunications Week is recognized annually during the second week of April and it’s a time to say “thanks” to those behind the scenes who do so much for us all year long when we are faced with emergencies.

In Lansing, the State 911 Committee (SNC) is also recognizing Michigan telecommunicators and their vital contributions to public safety. The SNC was established in accordance with Public Act 79 of 1999 and is a 21-member organization that works to promote the successful development, implementation, and operation of 911 systems across Michigan.

The Chair of the SNC, Mr. Jeff Troyer, says in a press release, “National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is dedicated to the men and women who serve as the critical lifeline to public safety emergency services. Many of them are over-worked and receive very little recognition as the first, public safety first-responder. Please join me in thanking and commending all public safety telecommunicators throughout the State of Michigan who make sure residents and visitors get the help they need when they need it most.”

There are approximately 2,200 telecommunicators in Michigan.

Joni Harvey, State 911 Administrator, says, “It is amazing that another year has come and gone, and another year of incredible service has been provided by our 911 telecommunications professionals. As new technology, staffing challenges, and a higher demand and need for top quality services evolve, our 911 telecommunicators are always there to meet these challenges head-on while providing the best service available. As each year passes, it becomes clearer the vital role our 911 telecommunicators serve in emergency services. Recognizing and celebrating their endless hard work is not done often enough.”

In Michigan, 911 centers serve as the primary point for dispatching police, fire, and EMS responses. In addition to answering and dispatching emergency calls, telecommunicators also provide pre-arrival instructions for police, fire, and medical calls, activate weather alerts, coordinate additional incident scene response such as medical examiners, child protective services, hospitals, road commission, utility and public works department notifications, callouts for specialized response teams such as search and rescue, SWAT, negotiating teams, and hazmat response teams.

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Telecommunicators in Michigan receive calls through many different 911 dialing systems including wireless, land-line telephones, Voice Over the Internet Protocol (VoIP), smart devices, and text messages.

Today there are 135 primary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in Michigan. According to the SNC’s 2022 Annual Report to the Michigan Legislature, of the counties and service districts that reported, telecommunicators in Michigan answered: 6,604,490 calls to 911; 9,488 texts-to-911; and 7,789,476 calls from non-emergency 911 lines. Nationally, an estimated 240 million calls are made to 9-1-1 in the United States each year – that’s about 650K calls every day.

Becoming a 9-1-1 dispatcher is not easy. Certified 911 telecommunicators in Michigan must complete at least 80 hours of basic and advanced dispatch training within their first 24 months of employment, maintain continuing education requirements by participating in approved courses, and accumulate at least 24 continuing education hours every 24 months.

According to the Reader’s Digest, every 9-1-1 call requires at leave seven tasks. That includes questioning the caller regarding the emergency; helping the caller to remain calm; prioritizing calls; providing instructions to the caller, including life-saving emergency medical interventions; contacting proper emergency personnel; dispatching emergency personnel and recording the details of the call, information provided and resources dispatched.

How can YOU help a 9-1-1- dispatcher when you are the one making the call? Give them your precise location, a good description of the emergency, a call-back number and the current condition of the victim or victims in the emergency.

What some of you may not know is that the professionals on the other end of the 9-1-1 calls receive a lot of verbal abuse during those calls. A 9-1-1 dispatcher told the Washington Post, “For every moment that I felt I was making a difference to a grateful community, there were ten calls where I was cursed at, called terrible names, or turned into an outlet for venting civilians.” The verbal abuse and stress of the job in addition to many other issues can lead to dispatchers retiring early or finding a new career. And it’s not easy to replace them.

There are stringent hiring requirements for 9-1-1 dispatchers. According to Reader’s Digest, they have to be an excellent speaker and writer of English (and other languages in some parts of the country); have office skills like word processing and transcription; have working knowledge of laws, legal codes, government regulations and agency rules; know the geographical area including the names of highways and roads; and be an excellent communicator and problem solver. The training is also grueling with many hours of training and completing ongoing courses in First Aid/CPR/AED, critical incident stress, domestic violence, emergency medical dispatch, hazardous materials, suicide intervention, terrorism and much more.

And for all that, the pay is not all that great. The average 9-1-1 dispatcher only earn about $40K a year. And like everything else, telecommunications are in short supply in Michigan and the rest of the country. Bridge Michigan wrote about the problem in September of last year, citing long shifts, low pay and high stress as reasons for the shortage of 9-1-1 dispatchers. The SNC says vacancies ranging from 20 to 30 percent are common. The shortages were already a problem and then, COVID-19, made it worse.

In order to alleviate stress and celebrate the good times, telecommunications week is a needed time for 9-1-1 dispatchers where they receive the accolades and praise that they deserve. If you’ve watched the TV Show “911 Crisis Center” on the Oxygen channel, you have seen the 9-1-1 call centers celebrating telecommunications week which they call “dispatch week” with raffles, cake, food, and theme days like wearing pajamas and other dress-up days. They also get food deliveries and presents from the public and/or the police officers and other first responders they work with in appreciation for what they do.

If your 9-1-1 call center allows it, food or flowers, would be a good way to thank your local 9-1-1 dispatchers. If they can’t accept gifts, then you could drop by and leave them a nice card or note.