Thank our dispatchers for hard work, dedication

Guest Commentary

This week, April 12-18, is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which recognizes the unsung heroes behind every call for emergency service placed nationwide – the public safety dispatchers.

I encourage each of us to take a moment to extend a well-earned “thank you” to our dispatchers in the Lincoln County Dispatch Center, Troy Area Dispatch Center and Eureka Area Dispatch Center for their hard work and contribution to public safety and the citizens we serve.

There is certainly very little of the traditional glory to be had serving as a dispatcher. A dispatcher’s shift is filled with managing stress by calmly taking callers’ panicked cries for help, coaching people through medical emergencies, getting responders to tough addresses, being patient with very upset callers, and helping officers through their own urgent and stressful situations on the street.

More often than not, the dispatchers’ only reward is ending their shift with a sense of satisfaction that they did the best job they could.

Dispatchers serve proudly as our anchor in the storms that our lives can bring, and for that we are very grateful.

Please join me this week in thanking our public safety dispatchers for taking care of us every minute of every day, making sure we, the citizens, get the help and assistance we need, and making sure that we, the family of emergency services providers, go home safe and sound.

— Roby Bowe is sheriff of Lincoln County.