By Beth Christian
Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – Everyone trusts when they dial 911 for help, there will be someone on the other end to help them. Tucker County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management/911 Director Darla Stemple makes sure there is someone to help and is working with surrounding counties to cross train her staff and those in other counties to make sure they can step into other counties if needed.
“We currently have two Preston County dispatchers sitting in right now, along with their training officer, learning our system and how we operate so we can do dispatcher sharing when needed,” Stemple said. “We have folks from our 911 center who have traveled to Preston County to learn their system.”
Stemple said the two counties have utilized the cross trained dispatchers in the past.
“Last year, four of our staff went to Preston County to learn their 911 system,” Stemple said. “We operated their system while their employees went to services for a colleague who passed away.”
Stemple said the two are working toward a one- for-one trade once a month in the future.
“This will keep the employees on top of everything,” Stemple said. “You cannot go without dispatchers and there are unforeseen circumstances that using dispatchers from another county is necessary. Everybody could be sick, and we could need to borrow from another center. If our center went down, our calls could be transferred to another county and we could send someone from our center to the other county as calls come in to help with locations.”
Stemple said it would be nice to cross train with other counties as well.
“Currently, we have the same system as Randolph County, so that would be easy,” Stemple said. “But along with that, dispatchers need to learn the procedures, the county and their department. That is what makes it difficult.”
Patty Stafford is the Preston County 911 Office Trainer.
“This cross training is important in case of emergency,” Stafford said. “If there is a disaster, these girls would be able to come here and work or Tucker County dispatchers could come and work for us. We lost a dispatcher last year and the Tucker County dispatchers came down and worked for us so we could all attend the funeral.”
Stafford said the two trainees were selected by the Preston County 911 Director because they are experienced with the system and are quick learners.
Tucker County 911 Deputy Director Judy Long said the cross training has been a good experience.
“I think this is a good thing, and it was a good experience for us to go to Preston County and learn their system,” Long said. “I think this will be a useful tool. It’s nice to be able to compare stories and realize they face the same issues we do on a day to day basis.”
