That's Jim Schedin to left. Jim is a telecommunicator in our Police Department. I snapped this photo of him this morning at around 7:15 am at his post in our dispatch center. Jim is working the 6am-3pm shift today, but like his colleagues in the dispatch center, he will work a variety of shifts throughout the year. Receiving calls for public safety services is an aspect of our City operations that 24/7. Somebody will always answer your 911 calls in Eden Prairie.
This past week, April 9-15, has been National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. It is a week during the year that we can give special recognition to those workers that really serve as your first call for help in an emergency. The Fire Fighter, the Police Officer, and the Ambulance driver don't get to your home without the services of the public safety dispatcher. They're easy to forget about in an emergency, but we could not help you without them.
I've never been a public safety dispatcher in my career. I've never been on the receiving end of a frenzied call from a driver who has just been rammed into on the freeway or from a senior citizen who just saw her spouse fall down some stairs. But I have been in the room when these calls have come in, and watching a trained a skilled telecommunicator handle a caller filled with panic is impressive. They know exactly what to say and how to say it in order to diagnose the problem and to assure the caller that help is indeed on the way.
And then, in addition to concentrating on the emergency call, throw in the fact that other phones are ringing; police officers are calling in questions to them through the radio system; and other people are talking in the dispatch center itself just a few feet away from them – and you've got a tough job to do. You've got to be the ultimate multi-tasker. And you've got to do it 100% right 100% of them time, or people might literally die. Not many of us work with that kind of pressure on a daily basis.
So here's a BIG THANK YOU to Lisa, Amy, Beth, Jennifer, Marci, Kelly, Kristi, Jim, Laura, Rachel and the two Michelle's for great work they do each and every day for Eden Prairie citizens.
They're always here when you need them.
