Texas dispatchers discuss challenges, rewards of career

By Silvio Panta

Odessa American
ODESSA, Texas — Dispatchers work two 12-hour shifts that cover both day and night, and are, in a sense, the real first responders who come across potentially life-and-death situations by answering 9-1-1 calls made by desperate people caught in an unforeseen crisis.

Michele Racca, a dispatcher who is a training coordinator, said she has answered calls in her 15 years "on the floor" that can raise anyone's blood pressure and heighten stress levels.

One such 9-1-1 call years ago stood out as one that didn't end well.

The caller needed help with a 6-week-old girl who was suffering from what appeared to be a sudden infant death syndrome-related ailment while cardiopulmonary resuscitation instructions were being given. The infant's siblings were heard crying in the background and when the caller asked what to do with the "little ones," Racca suggested they pray together, she said.

The infant died, Racca said.

Another call involved someone who was in a head-on collision "somewhere in the edge of the county" and lying in the front seat of a vehicle was an 8-year-old child who needed help, which arrived when firefighters pulled up in time, Racca said.

"I had to stay on the line for quite a long time," Racca recalled.

Racca and another longtime dispatcher shared their memories about the job they've come to love in spite of the harrowing calls they and their colleagues have encountered in their efforts to help someone in an emergency.

Ensconced on the third-floor in a Fourth Street office building in downtown Odessa, Racca, works alongside with about four or five other co-dispatchers in a given shift. Despite being short-staffed all dispatchers on staff manage to field as many as an estimated 700 calls per day during those two shifts, she said.

"You have to have a love for this job," said Racca, who added that anyone who can relate to people in a helpful way, and gracefully withstand the amount of stress that can come along with fielding 9-1-1 calls, can become a dispatcher.

"There has to be an innate desire, there has to be a compassion (for people) and a love to really excel at this job," Racca said.

Fellow dispatcher Christina Davis, a quality assurance manager, agrees.

Davis, a lifelong Odessa resident who has been a dispatcher for almost 11 years, said that while dispatching can be stressful, there's never a dull moment.

Racca cited statistics that showed the national average for dispatchers to continue working in the field is five years. Racca said she also knew of a study that tells of how 9-1-1 dispatchers can show the same symptoms for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome "as those who've been diagnosed with PTSD."

Usually, a prospective candidate for a dispatching slot can tell whether he or she is cut out for the job during training. One such candidate withdrew and told his colleagues "kudos to you guys, but this is not for me," Racca said.

Davis explained that a public safety job like dispatching can be taxing and that no work shift ever is like the one before.

"No day is the same, every single day is different," Davis said. "You can never come in and have the same day twice."

The two work shifts are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and dispatchers work "four days on, and four days off," Davis said. Dispatching applicants are tested on their typing skills and on how well they can multi-task. Test results can come in a couple of weeks, or a couple of months, "depending on your history," Davis said.

Applicants can have a high school diploma, or GED, and have no criminal history, Davis said.

"You have to pass a background check and a finger print check," she said.

There are currently 17 full-time dispatchers on staff with three going through training. Some part-time workers consist of Odessa Fire/Rescue firefighters and Odessa Police Department officers who work on their days off, Davis said.

The busiest days for dispatchers are the Fourth of July, New Year's Eve and Halloween, but the biggest 9-1-1 call generator can be the annual Permian and Odessa High football game, Davis said. One challenge to dispatching are the emergency calls made by people using cell phones, which can make it hard for a dispatcher to pinpoint a location, especially when they're made in outlying areas like in Gardendale and can potentially delay response times, Davis said.

Another challenge that can come up is when the caller does not speak English, but Davis explained that AT&T is contracted to provide interpreters.

"It's certainly a relief when you get off a line," she said. "It's very fulfilling to give back to the community in a very helpful way."

Copyright 2016 the Odessa American

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