ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – An Abilene dispatcher has received a pink mug for delivering a baby over the phone.
According to a social media post by the Abilene Police Department (APD), dispatcher Manny D. delivered a baby over the phone on July 23.
APD says it’s a tradition to get a pink mug when you deliver your first baby.
Working in a 911 emergency communications center (ECC) is a high stress environment and dispatchers are known to be supportive of each other. However, there are also tendencies to develop cliques and it’s not always easy for newcomers to be accepted on the team.
These team building strategies can help ECCs build stronger, more cohesive teams.
Leadership and team building skills can be honed. In 5 Takeaways for PSAP Team Building from Coach Brian Billick, “personnel structure and chemistry are critical to successful teams.”
The Washington City Council Monday, Sept. 16, approved an ordinance entering into an agreement for 911 peer support.
The agreement allows the city to enter into a mutual aid agreement with the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) for Roving 911 Peer Support Team.
People in the Little Apple can now text 911 during an emergency. The Riley County Police Department upgraded to a “Text to 911” system earlier this month.
“Just like any other 911 call, we handle it with the same priority,” said Communications Center Manager Tyler Siefkes. “Hopefully it’s not going to add too much more load to our dispatchers but it’s a nice capability to have.”
When Teresa Hill takes a call at work, she never knows who or what is waiting on the other line.
On Tuesday, Feb. 19, the Jefferson County 911 call center was relatively quiet — or at least as quiet as an emergency help line could be. Dispatchers answered calls about fire alarms and sent traffic stops throughout the day, but around 1:30 p.m., Hill got a call that changed everything.
An Albany man from Burma called 911 frantic because his daughter had been assaulted. Luckily, Albany Police Department’s newest dispatcher, Francis HungMang, answered the call.
It was his first week on the job and HungMang, himself a Burmese refugee, was able to directly speak with the man in his native language and assure him an officer was on the way. Typically police would have to use a language line to reach a translator.
