The week of April 14-20, 2019, is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Appreciation week, also known as Dispatcher Appreciation Week.

9-1-1 is the number that has been drilled into our minds from a young age, the number you call in case of an emergency. As we get older, we consider ourselves fortunate if we have never had to dial it.

For those of us who have had to call 9-1-1, we’ve heard the voice on the other end of the line, the calm in the chaos; the voice that sends help when we need it most. This is the week where citizens say thank you to the people who perform this often-thankless job, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

From a control room manned with 12 computer monitors and three phones, any one of the two dispatchers on duty at the time will dispatch one or multiple agencies. Blanco County dispatchers are responsible for dispatching three fire departments in the county, two EMS departments, Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, both city of Blanco Police and the city of Johnson City Police departments, the park police at either Blanco or Pedernales State Park and the Game Warden.

Lieutenant Julie Bussey, Blanco Sheriff’s Office, explained that it takes a specific personality to go from 0 to 60 in nanoseconds. Often, during times of short-staffing it seems nearly impossible to find someone willing to work long stressful hours, nights, weekends and holidays and usually never learning the outcome and having closure of a call. However, those who apply for a job as a dispatcher often just trying to make a living eventually learn to love the job and are filled with a sense of duty and purpose.

With an average of 40 calls a day, dispatch personnel receive calls of all kinds, including the age old ‘cat-in-a-tree’ call wanting the fire department. They even have received a few texts to 9-1-1, which has been a great asset to the hearing impaired.

Yet, they can’t emphasize enough, the importance of only reserving 9-1-1 lines to immediate danger only. They recommend calling the non-emergency line at (830) 868-7104, if there isn’t an immediate crisis.

Surprisingly, Monday is the most hectic day of the week for dispatchers because people often don’t call things in from the weekend until Mondays. Mondays are when people arrive home from vacations, they sober up or they let transgressions slowly simmer until they’re fed up.

Blanco County Dispatchers are trained to handle all scenarios and frequently deal with frightened or perturbed callers. Personnel continue training on a regular basis as new protocols are being developed all the time and they are now taking precautions against post-traumatic stress disorder for themselves. PTSD is now being recognized as problem that needs regular attention in the public safety dispatch community.

As if dispatching emergency services wasn’t chaotic enough, our county dispatchers pull double-duty as certified jailers. They man the screens, opening and closing doors for guards and even providing inmate escorts when necessary.

“It takes a special type of person to be on this side of the radio,” Lt. Bussey remarked.

Thanks to all the special people who are Blanco County Dispatchers: Lt. Julie Bussey, Sgt. Joanne Ruiz, Deputy Fire Chief Chris Leach, Mikaela Boehmer, Jenny Liesmann, Lianna Lemore, Cissy Arnold, Jeff O’Connell and Brynn Warrick.