‘They were all scared.’ Life inside the 911 call center during the COVID-19 pandemic

The lights inside the Manatee County 911 call center are kept dimmed to enhance a calming atmosphere.

It’s calming and peaceful for emergency dispatchers who train to quickly dissect any given emergency on the other end of the line every time someone calls 911.

To stand at a distance is to hear a calm, soothing voice speaking as if a friend was on the other end of the line

On the other end can often be chaos, panic and fear.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, that fear was enhanced for a lot of people amid all of the uncertainty. Though there were, at times, changes in the nature of a 911 call because of the pandemic, the one constant was that “help is on the way.”

“Every day is different,” said Katelyn Hutcherson, a senior telecommunicator for the Manatee County 911 call center. “You can’t expect every day to be the same, ever. You always have to be prepared to think outside the box. With COVID, we had to learn to adapt daily with everything that was changing with the pandemic.”

The 14-year veteran dispatcher said strategies were developed early in the pandemic to brace for what would be an influx of frightened callers thinking they may have contracted the virus and didn’t know what to do.

“They were all scared,” Hutcherson said. “So we always had to be reassuring to them and go over the instructions we had as it pertained for everyone. There are certain symptoms we would ask for and those concerned they had it said they probably needed to go to the hospital. So we had to feel through that to see if they needed to go or just to isolate. If we weren’t sure, we would air on the side of caution.”

It also was important to determine if the caller was symptomatic to better protect the first responders, as well.

“It was challenging for us, but we know what comes with the job,” Hutcherson said.

This is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. 911 dispatchers are rarely seen, but they are the first bridge of a lifeline that can be the difference between life and death.

“A woman called and found a family member unresponsive and I started to guide her through CPR,” Hutcherson recalled. “She had a moment of panic that they all have and I was able to pull her back in by reassuring her that help was on the way and assured her that she could perform CPR. They transported the family member and they got him back. She sent me a card, thanking me for helping me save her grandfather’s life.”

Hutcherson’s actions earned a place on the agency’s Tree of Life that adorns the wall before you walk into the dispatch center. There, names are written on leaves for each direct action that saved a life.

Like a police officer who never knows what to expect when responding to a scene, the dispatchers never know what level of emergency it will be when the phone rings.

“I love that part of the job,” Hutcherson said. “You really have to have that empathy for the caller. They aren’t calling you just to talk. They’re calling us on what they perceive is the worst day of their life. You really have to understand that and put yourself in their shoes to be able to work through the calls.”

A lot was learned over the course of 2020 and the 2,463 COVID-specific calls taken. Today, 911 dispatchers and first responders are essentially operating on the same level prior to the pandemic.

March of this year was the dispatch center’s busiest month in four years, taking more than 23,000 calls. Between 5-6 p.m. is the busiest time in the center with callers taking up to 850 calls within that hour alone.

Remember when calling 911: Know your location. If you call 911, don’t hang up. Stay on the line. Even if the situation resolves itself, let the 911 dispatcher know you are OK.