MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA PHONE: DEBORAH HAMMOND. Berkeley County Commission.

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1 ~ WF.S? f! :/'. 1,".;.;..'... ~ <"''''J \ii... ~ \l' «ouuf!j «ommhi!dou of Jlttfit{t!J «ouuf!j 400 WEST STEPHEN STREET, SUITE 201 MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA PHONE: OVl"T( "'I' '" L "' "1 " r, ~ il '! BICENTI~NIAL..,. '772.,Q1 ~ THE COMMISSION RONALD K. COLLINS, COMMISSIONER WILLIAM L. STUBBLEFIELD, COMMISSIONER DEBORAH HAMMOND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ANTHONY J, "TONY" PETRUCCI, COMMISSIONER Berkeley County Commission Proclamation National Public Safety Telecommunicators April 11th April tz", 2010 Week WHEREAS, thousands of dedicated Telecommunicators daily serve the citizens of the United States and Canada by answering their telephone calls for police, fire and emergency medical services by dispatching the appropriate assistance as quickly as possible; and WHEREAS, the critical functions performed by professional Telecommunicators also include those related to forestry and conservation operations, highway safety and maintenance activities, and many other operations performed by federal, state and local government agencies; and WHEREAS, Professional Telecommunicators work to improve the emergency response capabilities of these communications systems through their leadership and participation in training programs and other activities. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Berkeley County Commission does hereby proclaim the week of April 11th through April 1i h 2010, as "National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week" in Berkeley County, West Virginia, in honor and recognition of our county's Telecommunicators and the vital contributions they make to the safety and wellbeing of our citizens. 1

2 Proclamation National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Page 2 Adopted this 15th day of April, RO~rns~P~ Attest: illiam 1. ubbl d, Commissioner ~.~~ J W. Small, Jr. County Clerk ~4~ Anthony J. Petrucci, Commissioner doc: telecommunilps 2

3 To: April 9, 2010 Mary Kackley From: Margaret Hoogland Ref: A Memorable 911 Call One of the more memorable calls in my years as an emergency telecommunicator, though there have been many, is the one for which the attached CAD pertains, Cad # , "Breathing Problem." This call started out as an Openline 911 call, taken by another coworker, Crystal Hall. It appears that there were three dispatchers on duty at the time: Crystal, Sarah Burroughs, and me. I was very impressed with the calltaker, Crystal Hall, on this call, because I vividly remember her saying that she was just about to conclude that the call was perhaps a phone in someone's pocket, an unintentional call, when she realized that what she heard sounded like a person moaning and groaning, and then it was full speed ahead for all of us trying to determine the location of the patient, and get help started. With the three of us working together, and utilizing a number of resources, including the plotting of longitude and latitude coordinates, checking for previous calls at a location which closely matched the latitude and longitude coordinates; and having the judgment to get some kind of help started, that being law enforcement first, very closely followed by starting medical help, the outcome resulted in the patient being found, and his receiving medical attention and transport to the hospital. I believe I derived some satisfaction "behind the scenes" so to speak (since my initials nor name seldom appear on the CAD) by directing my coworkers on some of the aspects of getting help started for this call. Even though we did not have an exact location, we did start law enforcement and medical help in the direction of where we thought the emergency was, and all responders answered up promptly and enthusiastically. As a supervisor, sometimes the opportunities to be THE ONE on a call are fewer than in the past, however, it is truly satisfying watching our coworkers advance, grow and glow with their training, and being even a tiny part of that process. e Respectfully submitted, ~ ~, Margaret Hoogland

4 " 4/9/10 e I have been dispatching now for 8 years and there are so many calls that stand out such as that first infant cardiac arrest, that first fight with weapons or that first threat of suicide, but I have been asked to write about the most influential call. I have chosen to write about a domestic in progress with weapons and tragic outcome. It was about 0200 and there was only two of us on shift with the third person arriving at 0400 hours. We received a call from a woman saying that her car alarm was going off and she didn't know how to shut it off. Now I will be honest, my first thought was ummm okay lady you called 911 for a car alarm, but I followed procedure and explained respectfully that we do not deal with car alarms. The caller insisted that she cannot shut the alarm off and as I listened I did not hear an alarm going off in the background which made me question even further. Then all of a sudden as if something had taken over I asked is there someone there with you and she said YES. I asked further if this person had a weapon again she said yes. I remembered from training to ask the yes or no questions so I said to my caller just continue to answer yes or no. Was it a gun No, was it a knife, YES. Is it a male, YES and is it your husband, YES? With that my coworker began dispatching and the SPOL were next on rotation. She was repeating all the information as I was asking and answering the questions out loud. I remember telling the caller to tell her husband that in order to reset the alarm we had to stay on line and it might take a few minutes. In the meantime officers were responding from the state police as well as the sheriffs' office. We continue to ask questions and get the answers needed such as the location of the suspect and what was the best way for the officers to come in. Everything was happening so fast and yet I remember thinking are they ever going to get there and knew my caller must have been thinking the same thing so I remembered to assure her that help was on the way and try to stay calm while she kept talking to me as if I was the alarm company technical support. My coworker then dispatches EMS for precautionary reasons and the next thing we hear is that the officers are going in no lights or sirens, I believe they said going in black or dark. Then on the phone what I hear is the phone being tossed around as if there was a scuffle and then a gunshot and silence. The silence was deafening. Not knowing who was shot or what was going on. Not knowing if the caller was hurt or even the officers. Then from out of nowhere one of the state units yelled we need an ambulance. Again, the silence was horrible; it was so bad that we could hear our heartbeats. It was about 15 minutes later that we get a

5 .' call from the state police dispatcher telling us it was not the officer or the caller but the _ suspect who had been shot and it took 12 shots to take him down. When he fell he landed on the sofa between the legs of the caller and he was still alive that he had to be handcuffed. When all was said and done the one thing that I remember thinking was that it was amazing how during the entire time of this call we did not get one call in the center allowing us to do our job to best of our ability. I would have to say this call defined me as a dispatcher. I can't quite explain it but somehow everything came together. I knew what to say and what to ask. I knew to repeat things loud enough for my coworker to hear and do what she knew to do. I believe I may have even had that deer in the headlight look the rest of the night. I don't remember any other call we took that night other than one we received from I believe a Sgt at the state police thanking us for the job we did. He said we saved the life of our caller and the lives of his officers. Some time later the two troopers involved in the call stopped by the center and fortunately the shift that was working that night was present. They said they wanted to meet the dispatchers and personally thank us for keeping our caller and them safe. We all hugged a little and I think that was when it really hit me and I cried. That was when I realized it didn't matter what people said about dispatchers and how we are often over looked. It doesn't matter what people think when that one bad call comes out, we know the thousands of people we touch or help in a day. A couple of months later that coworker and I were asked to be present to represent Central. We were not told what it was for but quickly learned it was to acknowledge those who have survived domestic violence and to pray for those who had not. Part of the ceremonies was to thank those who had assisted victims and we were blessed to meet the caller and she thanked us in person. There were a lot of tears that night but warmth too. We knew we had done what we were trained to do and succeeded and I realized I was doing what I was meant to do. The 12 hour shifts, the holidays away from family, the lack of sleep because our bodies have to adjust to the changing shifts, the constant flood of calls with people cursing us and accusing us of doing nothing. All of it is worth it if in the interim we touch or save one life. c ~~ Mary E Foster Supervisor

6 This call came in when I was a dispatch with all of six months experience, and that is very, very new in this profession. It was the first horrific call that I took on my own. I can still remember it, almost as if it is a tape playing in my head. We got a 911 hangup from a residence where we had had a minor domestic earlier in the evening. I called back the phone number right away, and a female answered screaming, "He has a gun! He has a gun!" I asked where he was because I could hear noises that indicated she was outside. The call was already saved and my partner was starting the response. She screamed that he was right in front of her, that she was inside and that he was outside coming in. I asked her ifhe was pointing the gun at her. Then I heard a loud, ringing gunshot. I literally jumped in my chair, and felt as if the shot had gone through me. My mouth was dry, my breath was comingfast. Time seems to almost stop at moments like this. I remember thinking that one of them was likely dead... but which one?i told my partner: Shot Fired. Then my caller began screaming at such a pitch and panic that I knew he had shot himself I spoke loudly to get her attention and she told me he had shot the grass, and then himself Police were on scene within seconds of this. Soon after, the officer in charge called, asking to speak to the person who had been on the phone. He asked if I had heard one shot or two. I insisted I had heard only one. It turns out that the shot I heard was the one fired in the grass, and the one that went into his mouth had been too muffled for me to hear. I went home a couple of hours later, but I couldn't sleep. I had never been exposed to anything like that. Ifinally called our Director, and despite the hour she listened to me patiently, knowing that just needed to talk it out. She reminded me that the call had gone down so fast that there wasn't a thing I could have done that would have made any difference. I probably talked for almost an hour before she told me that I was starting to sound sleepy and that I should go to bed. I did and that was the first of many, many calls in which I found myself on the other end of the phone from a tragic situation. But it was the first one that began teaching me to take the call, do what I needed to do, and get ready for the next call. Robin Kennedy c

7 My story is something I've remembered since I first started and has stuck with me through the years. It was within the first week or two of when I had started here and Mary Kackley was training me. She received a 911 call and at first it appeared to be just an open line with no one else on the other end. I'm not sure what at first keyed her interest in there possibly being something more, maybe hearing a faint breath or some sort of backward noise, but she started asking that if someone was there if they could make some sort of noise for us to let us know. Sure enough after repeating this once or twice we hear our patient bang on what sounded like a pot or pan. Using this primitive form of morse code we were able to get the caller to at least communicate to us that he needed an ambulance and not police or fire assistance. If I remember right it seems the caller had had a stroke and was unable to talk and was having trouble really functioning at all. The ambulance went out and was able to locate and transport the caller to the' hospital. I've always passed this story on to the different people I've worked with and trained, wanting them to remember that sometimes even after taking hundreds and hundreds ofthe same calls there can be that one that's going to take just a little bit of extra effort to get the job done right. 10(lVl ( 0 Li* ~

8 A~,l~y:5t>f\eS Opetbtoe 'f "All you do is sit around and wait for the phone to ring all day." This is a phrase I have heard multiple times over my four years as an Emergency 911 dispatcher. No one can truly understand what it is like to be a 911 dispatcher unless they have sat in your seat; there is no job like this in the world. Not only is it time consuming and demanding, it can be emotionally draining. Four years and 16,537 calls later I can honestly say I am not the person I use to be as a new dispatcher in May of Out of 16,537 calls I can only remember one call that really sticks out in my mind. Although this call is not the only one of this nature I have taken, a dispatcher can not be oppressed by the feelings, worries, and concerns we have for our callers. While taking the call we can feel empathy and compassion for them but once the call is over we too must let our feelings be over. The call I am remembering was a murder/suicide call that took place on October 15 th I was still very new at this time with only five months to the day under my belt. My memory did not serve me correctly as I had thought the call took place early in the morning as the children were getting ready for school. However, as the CAD shows it was early on a Sunday morning. I was on midnight shift and getting off at A 911 line rang around 0730 and as my recording played "Berkeley County 911 what is the address of your emergency" all I could hear was a very young female

9 screaming in terror. The only thing understandable was "my mother is dead" then the line disconnected. As I tried to call the female back other dispatchers in the room are getting calls from neighbors and a call from the son. We were being told by the callers that a female had been shot by her husband and he had fled the scene threatening to shoot his self as well. I remember feeling so sad for the children who had witnessed this horrific incident, anger knowing that there was nothing I could do but get help to them, and a little bit of panic being as this was the first big call I had ever handled. Once the police arrived on scene, it was confirmed one female victim shot and a few yards down the road the male subject had shot hisiself while still driving the get away vehicle. This call illustrates not all the calls we deal with here at 911 have a positive outcome. Sometimes there are calls with positive outcomes but we as dispatchers must rely on our training, our instincts, and our coworkers to professional and effectively get our callers whatever kind of help they need. Lack of recognition aside, this is a very self rewarding career. It has changed my demeanor, made me more aware of my surroundings and over all a better person. e

10 TO MARY KACKLEY, DIRECTOR FROM JOSHUA DORFNER Subject: UTILIZING THE TOOLS, TRAINING, EQUIPMENT AND TEAMWORK WHEN THIS CALL CAME IN IT STARTED OUT AS A FALL GREATER THAN 6 FT, SO IMEDIATELY I STARTED THINKING ALS. I MADE SURE TO USE THE EMD CARDS TO BACK UP MY DECISION MAKING. I USED THE CARDS TO GET THE BASIC INFORMATION SUCH AS THE ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER AND WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED. I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE FALLS CARD AND STARTED WITH THE QUESTIONING. AFTER ESTABLISHING THAT THE PATIENT FELL THROUGH THE FLOOR OF A NEW HOME BEING BUILT AND THAT THE FALL WAS AROUND 8 FT DOWN INTO THE BASEMENT I KNEW IT WAS DEFINETLY AN ALS CALL. I GOT THE BASIC INFORMATION SUCH AS THE AGE, SEX, LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS, ALERTNESS AND BREATHING STATUS. LYNN TOOK OVER WITH THE QUESTIONING WHILE I GOT AN AMBULNACE DISPATCHED. AFTER GIVING PATIENT INFORMATION MEDIC 99 REQUESTED TO START COMPANY 60 FOR ADDITIONAL MAN POWER BECAUSE OF THE LOCATION OF THE PATIENT AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF GETTING HIM OUT OF THE BASEMENT. MOBILE 92 THEN REQUESTED RESQUE ENG 64 TO LOCATE A SPOT FOR A LANDING ZONE IN CASE THE PATIENT NEEDED TO BE AIR LIFTED. MARY FOSTER GOT THE COORDINATES OF THE SPOT THAT RESCUE ENG 64 PICKED OUT AND NOTIFIED MED COM. ONCE THE PATIENT WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BASEMENT AND LOADED INTO THE AMBULANCE THEY BROUGHT HIM TO THE LOCATION THAT WAS PICK OUT TO BE THE LANDING ZONE. RESQUE ENG 64 MONITORED HELO 2 AND WAITED FOR THE HELICOPTER. THE PATIENT WAS LOADED INTO LIFE LINE AND TRANSPORTED TO WINCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER. ONCE THEY WERE AIRBORNE ALL UNITS WENT BACK IN SERVICE. WITH EVERYONE'S HARD WORK AND DETERMINATION TO MAKE IT A SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL RESCUE I LEARNED THAT EVERYONE HAS AN INTRICAL PART TO PLAY IN THE DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS IN SAVING PEOPLES LIVES. I CAME AWAY FROM THIS CALL VERY SATISFIED KNOWING THAT EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL OF A ROLE DID WHAT THEY WERE TRAINED TO DO AND FOR THAT I AM VERY GRATEFUL TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF IT. Lj_a,ol.O;O e

11 TO: MARY KACKLEY THIS PAPER IS IN REFERENCE TO MY 1 ST 911 CALL THAT I RECEIVED. IT WAS IN THE MORNING AND I TOOK A CALL FROM A VERY HYSTERICAL WOMAN, SCREAMING SO MUCH THAT I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SHE SAID, UNTIL I ASKED IF THERE WAS SOMEONE ELSE IN THE HOUSE THAT I COULD SPEAK TO. WHEN SHE PUT HER ELDEST SON ON THE PHONE, HE ADVISED THAT HIS STEP FATHER HAD JUST SHOT HIMSELF IN THE HOUSE. HIS MOTHER AND HIS YOUNGER BROTHER WERE THERE IN THE HOUSE WHEN IT OCCURRED. THIS CALL PRETTY MUCH AFFECTED THE WAY IHANDLE ALL CALLS NOW. IT HAS ALLOWED ME TO SEPARATE MY PERSONAL FEELINGS FROM ALL THE CALLS I TAKE AND I KNOW ON A PERSONAL LEVEL THAT EVERY DAY IS PRECIOUS. DURING THE CALL ITSELF, I WAS VERY UPSET, NOT SURE WHAT TO SAY TO THE CALLER. I WAS STILL IN TRAINING AND THANK GOODNESS MY TRAINING OFFICER WAS THERE TO HELP GUIDE ME. AFTER THE CALL WAS OVER, I WAS OVERWHELMED AND IT MADE ME REALIZE WHETHER OR NOT THIS JOB WAS RIGHT FOR ME. BUT AFTER TALKING TO OUR FEARLESS LEADER, SHE ADVISED ME THAT I HAD TO LEARN TO HANDLE THESE TYPES OF CALLS. SO FROM THEN ON, I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I HAVE AND IMPROVING EACH AND EVERY DAYl SINCERELY, DS

WORLD TRADE CENTER TASK FORCE INTERVIEW EMT STEPHEN HESS. Interview Date: October 11, Transcribed by Elisabeth F. Nason

File No. 9110060 WORLD TRADE CENTER TASK FORCE INTERVIEW EMT STEPHEN HESS Interview Date: October 11, 2001 Transcribed by Elisabeth F. Nason MR. RADENBERG: Today's date is October 11, 2001. The time is