CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Usually, any situation surrounding a call to 911 involves a serious emergency or at the least, a real problem. You or someone else is in need of help and that is exactly what the 911 operators are there for, to help make sure you are taken care of.
April 10-16 is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. E911 dispatchers and operators in Clarksville-Montgomery County are taking some time out of their busy schedules with daily activities throughout the week to celebrate their hard work and service to the community.
The telecommunicators working in the E911 Center at 130 South First Street in Clarksville include both dispatchers and 911 operators. Shane Givens, Interim Director of the E911 Center, says many times the public can have the wrong perception of operators.
There is a wide variety of situations involving callers every day. “You can take a call from a cat in a tree or the next thing is a baby that is not breathing. “We have an emergency medical dispatch program which allows us to give medical instructions to the caller which can save lives,” said Givens.
Training Supervisor and Cell Phone Sally Coordinator, Julie Schmidt, added that there’s a lot of education that goes into making a dispatcher. “There’s lots of training, you don’t just come in off the road and just start taking calls,” Schmidt said.
All operators and dispatchers go through many weeks of training and have to be CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) Certified, EMD (Emergency Dispatch) Certified and Telecommunicator Certified. Schmidt is one of two people at E911 who train workers for their certifications.
Most people don’t realize that dispatchers and operators at the E911 Center handle about a thousand calls a day. They are often recognized as the unseen heroes and unlike law enforcement, firefighters and other emergency personnel all of their work is behind the scenes but is still just as vital.
Cell Phone Sally, mentioned earlier, is another aspect of the local E911 Center that Schmidt says teaches people, especially children, about calling 911. Sally is a costumed character that looks, of course, like a cell phone.
Sally makes appearances in area public and private schools, as well as some day cares. Schmidt escorts Sally and handles the presentations and says it teaches people how to use 911, when to use 911 and what to do when you accidentally call 911.
Youngsters are shown how to use a cell phone or a regular landline phone to call 911. Kids are also taught one other very important thing, you cannot text to 911. To schedule a visit from Cell Phone Sally, email jvschmidt@montgomerycountytn.org or call 931-552-1011 ext. 3117.