Read Full Article | View Source
By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor
In the middle of receiving a plaque to commemorate his 23 years of service as a Shelby County 9-1-1 dispatcher, Philip Morris got the worst call of his career on Monday, Aug. 9.
After years of handling distressing calls and helping people through traumatic situations, Aug. 9 was supposed to mark a celebratory end to a special career of helping others until the call came.
“My boss is giving me a plaque to celebrate my retirement when a call comes through to my coworker from my father’s house,” Morris said. “That’s when I had to dispatch a call to an unresponsive person. It was a DIF, which means death in the field. My last radio transmission as a 9-1-1 dispatcher was ‘88th command reports death in the field,’ and it just happened to be my father.” …
