While dispatchers like those with the Washington County Communications Center prepare for various 911 calls, one 20-year veteran of the profession says there’s always one situation she finds most challenging despite her training.

This is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, celebrating the men and women who are the “first” first responder on the scene in an emergency. Shelley Reed-Wulf says being a dispatcher is very rewarding knowing she’s helped a person in a life-threatening emergency or put their mind at ease during a difficult situation. Still, she says there are calls that can test her own mindset, “Anything that has to do with kids, that’s always tough, especially when it comes to kids being hurt in any way. That’s tough on any human, I would think, whether you have kids or whether you don’t.”

Reed-Wulf says calls involving people she knows can also be difficult and can occasionally warrant taking some time after the call to collect herself. 911 Dispatch Supervisor Cara Sorrells says dispatchers like Reed-Wulf go about their job without fanfare, “They are the unseen heroes, the invisible heroes because everybody talks to their voices (but) they don’t know who they’re talking to.”

Sorrells adds their job is not as glamorous as portrayed on TV. She says the outcome is not always miraculous, oftentimes dispatchers can do everything right, send everyone as fast as they can, and the outcome can still not be positive; that is the downside of this profession.

The dispatch staff includes Cara Sorrells (Supervisor), Teresa Todd (Assistant Supervisor), Sandy Lovetinsky, Melanie Huschka, Issak Kleese, Shelley Reed-Wulf, Brittany Stutzman, Hunter Erwin, Delainey Parish, Sean Salemink and Riley Thomann.