911 call-takers provide critical link in case of emergency

Aug. 19--On a recent Friday night, while many were kicking off the weekend with an evening on the town, Jenyne Wells waited for the phone to ring.

As a 911 call-taker at SunComm, Yakima County's emergency dispatch center, she was waiting for anyone needing help.

It would not be long.

"A young girl is being forced into a van," a woman caller said, speaking through an interpreter. The abductors are fighting and are known to carry guns, the woman said.

Wells calmly but authoritatively asks the woman to describe the vehicle and assures her police are on the way. All the while, she's typing bursts of information that are transmitted to computer screens in the responding police car, as well as police dispatchers who are sitting on the other end of the center.

Located in a nondescript one-story building off South 18th Street in Union Gap, SunComm handles an average of 650 calls per day for police in Yakima and Union Gap and fire departments in Yakima, East Valley, West Valley, Nile, Naches, Gleed, Selah, Naches Heights and Highland. Last Friday was particularly busy, with 815 calls taken by midnight.

"It's an interesting job," said Wells, who has worked there for nine years. "You learn something new every day."

It also a demanding job involving 12-hour shifts and high-stress situations.

Call-takers answer 911 calls, gather information and relay it to dispatchers, who are in radio contact with police, firefighters and ambulances.

The heart of the center is a large room with giant computer screens mounted on each end displaying calls and the location of police, fire and ambulance units.

When a call comes in, one of the five computer screens in front of each dispatcher and call-taker shows the caller's phone number and its location, either by address, latitude and longitude, or the nearest cellphone tower. That location shows up on a map on another screen, along with which police, fire or medical unit is being sent and where it is at the moment.

"You can't hide from us. We will find you," Wells said, adding that the location information has helped with people lost on Mount Adams calling for help.

Sometimes call-takers have to go old-school in determining locations. Wells keeps a written list of each milepost along the county's major roads, allowing her to better pinpoint a caller's location and ensure the right agency is responding.

With the push of a button, call-takers can send a call to the Washington State Patrol, the Yakima County Sheriff's Office, Yakama Nation Tribal Police or other agencies, depending on the situation.

Sometimes callers don't speak English. When a bilingual call-taker is not available, SunComm uses LanguageLine Solutions, a company contracted by the city to provide translation on 911 calls.

Another call comes in.

A driver reports that she struck a horse. The animal walked away, but she wants someone to come out and check on it. Because the call is from an unincorporated area near Sunnyside, a sheriff's deputy is dispatched.

Along with seeing the location of a call, SunComm staff can look at the call history of an address, as well as see who is known to live there. This can tell arriving officers whether the person they will be dealing with has a criminal record, carries a concealed weapon or other information that could affect safety.

"We give them the five Ws: Who, What, Where, Why and Weapons," Wells said.

Much of the information is relayed through computers in patrol cars and the dispatch center.

"As soon as they (911 call-takers) hit send, it goes on our screen," said Angela Brown, a SunComm dispatcher for eight years who is also a supervisor. The arrangement allows dispatchers to know what is coming through from the caller.

Call-takers must remain calm when the person on the end of the line is anything but.

"We have people cuss us out," said Marcie Gutierrez, who worked in a 911 center in Montana before coming to SunComm four years ago.

Keeping calm is a skill that SunComm director Brad Coughenour said he looks for in applicants, and also tries to teach.

"If the person (calling 911) is hysterical, we have to control the conversation to keep them calm and get them to focus and get them the help they need," Coughenour said.

New call-takers go through three months of training, followed by a year of mentoring with a staff member.

On an average shift, two call-takers and four dispatchers are on duty. But more can be brought in if it gets busy.

Coughenour and Wells acknowledge the job is not for everybody.

First, there's the 12-hour shift and being on call for emergencies.

Then there is the stress element. While call-takers and dispatchers are not in the field, simply listening can be stressful. A critical incident stress-management team helps employees cope after stressful calls, such as an infant death, and especially after serious car crashes or suicides.

Wells said dispatchers and call-takers can meet with team members -- who are also peers -- to discuss what happened.

Within the facility is a "quiet room," where someone feeling stressed can unwind on one of two couches, Brown said.

Wells said the staff members support one other and consider the work team a second family.

Another call comes in.

This time, the caller reports a relative appears to be choking. Wells quickly grabs her copy of the emergency medical dispatch procedures and flips to the section on choking. The book contains checklists to guide callers on rendering aid for a variety of situations, from childbirth to heart attacks.

"I'm going to talk you through it," Wells says as she turns to the Heimlich maneuver card. In the end, the procedure wasn't needed as the caller explained the woman was exposed to bug spray.

Wells relayed that information to the responding ambulance, making its crew aware of the situation.

Not all calls are emergencies, however. The center gets calls in which nobody is on the line, such as an accidental dial or when an old cellphone is given to a child as a toy. Even if they are no longer covered by a service contract, cellphones can still call 911.

"Just take the battery out," Wells advises those who let their kids play with old phones.

About 25 percent of the calls fall into the nonemergency category. A noise complaint, for example, will require an officer to respond, but not in a rush. Other nonemergency calls that don't require an officer's response are either forwarded to the appropriate agency, or the call-taker will advise the caller to hang up and call a different number.

And some calls that come in are just plain weird.

"There was a guy out in White Swan who said Bigfoot was attacking him," Wells recalled. "He kept calling in to say Bigfoot was in his front room."

Through the rest of the evening, Wells handles reports of someone attempting to break into a cash machine, a burglar alarm and a report of a house fire.

After midnight, Wells said things will calm down until the bars close, when there will be a couple of DUI calls.

Copyright 2015 - Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash.