Working through adversity….together

I work for the best team in the country.  Hands down this is a group of people that stand united for the betterment of the department, regardless of any internal squabble or personal agendas. The 9 other people I share a comms center with have worked through and against troubling odds.

We experienced a short staffing due to the pandemic, the sudden dismissal of staff and management, as well as medical events. This team also worked through the emergency recall of former dispatch employees and bared the brunt of carrying the workload while they got up to speed with changes in our center when we went to 6 full-time dispatchers. My team has been flexible with adjusting schedules to accommodate various trainings and meetings while a new CAD was implemented.

Over the past 3.5 years, my team has taken on changes from new dispatching programs to new SOPs, new departments, new management, and being ran by an operational department versus a public safety department. My team has also weathered a mass exodus of experienced dispatchers; our average years of dispatch experience is less than 5 years.  My team is passionate about their work, about responder safety, and about the safety of the traveling public.

This team is unstoppable, and I am so lucky to be working for this group. I can count on every single member of the team to follow-through with every thing asked of them – filling overtime, completing trainings, creating cheat sheets or checklists, assisting with onboarding of new hires, providing feedback to schedules and our training program to name a few things. This team runs well together. They rally. They support each other in times of personal and professional need. They inspire one another to improve and chase dreams.