Published: February 14, 2008 10:29 pm      

911 center needs ‘qualified’ dispatchers

Sought for a year to fill position

ASHLAND — The agency the public calls for help in times of crisis is in need of some assistance itself.

For the last year, the Regional Public Safety Communications Center has been looking to fill open dispatcher positions but has not found a single qualified applicant.

Sandy Virgin, director of the RPSCC, said the agency is preparing to begin another search — the third it has conducted — to fill the positions. Virgin said the agency must hire a new dispatcher to reduce the work load of its current dispatchers.

“It will cut down on some overtime that has been created and we would like to divvy up some responsibilities. If we had another person here we could do that,” she said. “When you work the kind of work we do you don’t want people working a lot of overtime. They get burnt out kind of fast.”

RPSCC handles all 911 calls that originate in Boyd County, dispatching nine fire departments, three law enforcement agencies, Emergency Management Agency and Boyd County Emergency Medical Service, while at the same time maintaining warrants and emergency protective orders for the county, according to Virgin.

Tom Adams, director of Boyd County EMS, said he shares Virgin’s concerns about overworking dispatchers. He said the situation has the potential, if it reaches a critical stage, to impact the safety of the public and area first responders.

The agency must be staffed 24 hours a day regardless of the shortage, so care must be taken by management to monitor employees’ well-being to “make sure the stress is not starting to build up,” Adams said.

“These people are the ones who field the front line calls when someone is distressed and they have to calm them and get the information they need to send the right help to them,” he said.

Dispatchers are key players in all emergency response situations, Adams said. Information that goes out to the first responders, whether it’s fire, police or EMS, often comes through the RPSCC first.

“The wrong information could easily cause someone to be killed. They (dispatchers) are the ones that figure out that critical information in seconds and get it out,” Adams said.

“So it’s real important that the dispatcher not be in a position where they have to work more than they should. It’s very frustrating for them when they are in there having to do double duty ... but it has to be done one way or another. Finding qualified help is the key to fixing that,” he said.

Virgin described the perfect candidate as “somebody that can work shift work, that can be responsible, mature and has a lot of common sense and a few computer skills. ... be a very patient person, well organized.”

“The ideal candidate is one who is committed and sincere about a career and has the personality and common sense that is unusual in most people,” Adams added. “It’s a personality of wanting to do that job. This is not a job you can do if you don’t want to be doing it.”

Both said the job, despite its stresses, is an extremely rewarding profession.

“If you’re looking to help your community it’s a good place to start,” Virgin said. “It is honestly an extremely rewarding job, especially when things that are out of the ordinary happen and you help people and you know you’ve made a difference. It’s something you do for your community. The community may recognize it and they may not, but you know you’ve made a difference.”

Qualified candidates are not required to have previous emergency response training but must pass a written examination, complete a psychological evaluation, drug screening and complete a polygraph test.

Once hired, RPSCC provides all the training necessary for the job, Virgin said, including sending individuals to a four-week public safety dispatch training academy at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

Virgin said applications are not yet being accepted for the position, but the City of Ashland will start the hiring process for RPSCC soon, providing applications and conducting the written testing.

CARRIE KIRSCHNER can be reached at ckirschner@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.