Knudsen returns to Concordia Police Department as dispatch supervisor (KS)

Kathy Knudsen has returned to Concordia in a job she loves, and brought almost 24 years of experience with her.

Knudsen, the new dispatch supervisor at the Concordia Police Department, began her career in Concordia in 1999. After five years she went to work with the Kansas Highway Patrol, where she stayed for almost 19 years. She has now returned to Concordia to be closer to her family and to work again with Police Chief Brent Gering. Gering and Knudsen worked together in the Concordia PD from 1999-2001, when Gering was an officer.

El Cajon launches first-in-the-region overhaul of 911 program to direct less-serious calls to nurses (CA)

The new El Cajon Community Care pilot program will give callers who do not appear to be in danger the option of talking with a nurse, who can still help schedule doctor’s appointments and arrange rides to clinics.

“We’re looking at a holistic approach,” Bent Koch, chief of the Heartland Fire and Rescue Department, recently told the city council. “We want to get the right level of care, the right resources” to “the people who don’t necessarily need to go to the emergency room.”