Angelisha Langford, a dispatch supervisor with Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency, will never forget a call she received within her first six months on the job.
A mother called her in distress because her infant daughter was not breathing.
Langford walked the mother through performing CPR until first responders could get to the scene.
But by the time they got there, it was already too late, Langford said. The child had died.
That call stuck with Langford, and it’s one of dozens she still carries with her after nearly nine years as a dispatcher.
“I didn’t expect to have to give CPR (instructions) to a parent knowing that her child is not going to make it,” Langford told The Dispatch. “I just had to give her assurance that help was on the way and also just give some type of aid to make sure that she knew someone else was there with her.”
Those difficult situations are part of why Cindy Lawrence, director of Lowndes County Emergency Agency, said it is important to recognize the work of emergency dispatchers.
“They are the unsung heroes in the emergency response circle,” Lawrence said. “… You can’t get the information to the firefighters or the law enforcement if you don’t have a (dispatcher) to take the call and get the information.”
Lowndes County is recognizing National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week from Sunday to April 18 after the board of supervisors passed a resolution at its Monday meeting.
Trip Hairston, board president, said the resolution is just one of the ways the county is trying to appreciate dispatchers and their contributions to so many.
“They certainly deserve it. They really do an excellent job. They put up with a lot of difficult situations, and they handle it in stride,” Hairston said. “That is a difficult position. It’s also very difficult to find people who can handle that job. People don’t realize what it is, and we’re very grateful for them.”
Typically, dispatchers work four days a week in 12-hour shifts between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. in three-person crews, Langford said. Depending on the staffing situation of a department, Langford said dispatchers may also be asked to work more than 60 hours in a week.
During a shift, Langford said a dispatcher answers about 300 calls, which can range from a structure fire to a call about a gunshot victim to a reported fatal car accident.
“Sometimes, we don’t have relief from calls that are traumatic,” Langford said. “… We don’t have any (breaks) between those calls because you usually have to go to the next.”
Langford said the toll those calls take leads to burnout and high turnover at the agency and nationally. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website reports there are about 10,700 dispatcher vacancies projected each year through at least 2034.
Since starting her job in 2017, Langford said she has seen about 15 dispatchers leave the agency because of the trauma and stress that’s associated with the job.
Fixing the pay problem
Lawrence said that, along with the stress and overtime hours, dispatcher positions are also difficult to fill because of the wide-range of necessary skills required, like quick typing, de-escalation and strong listening skills.
Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, Lawrence said it has been difficult to maintain a full staff.
“A lot of people, they come into the center thinking that they can do the dispatching, but immediately some people just say, ‘I can’t do it,’” Lawrence said. “They’ll go into the center. They’ll start today (and) some people don’t come back tomorrow.”
Currently, the county’s call center has 11 full-time and three part-time dispatchers, with three full-time vacancies.
Lawrence said she believes the agency can fill those empty positions in the future because the county has continued to show strong support for its dispatchers.
That support included a $3.25 average hourly pay rate hike during the board’s most recent budget approval in October, Jay Fisher, county administrator, said.
On average, Lawrence said that took a full-time dispatcher’s hourly rate to $18.
Hairston said the board plans to continue making dispatcher retention a focus to ensure the department remains staffed.
“We’ve looked at other area E-911s to look at their pay and make sure they’re comparable,” Hairston said. “Of course, we don’t want to be training E-911 people just to send them over to the adjacent county because they’re paying $4 or $5 more an hour. So that is something that we keep an eye on and try to compare and make sure that we’re not out of line with.”
While the stress of the job can be difficult, Langford said she keeps showing up to work because she wants to make a difference in her community.
“It’s one of those things where it’s either in you or it’s not,” Langford said. “And we’re trying to make sure people understand the urgency of why we need dispatchers, why we need people who are strong enough to … make it through these types of calls.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
