HANCOCK COUNTY — They hear worst-case scenarios and then must make on-the-spot and — in some instances — a life saving-decision.
The work a 911 dispatcher does is nonstop and intense. Helping others during some of life’s worst experiences can bring great satisfaction when all ends well. Still, there are other times that can be heartbreaking, like listening to a person take their last breath when they’ve called for help.
“Those are the kinds of situations that create mental images and stay with you,” said Jason Haddix, a county dispatcher.
Haddix, 44, Greenfield, has been a dispatcher for the Hancock County 911 Center since March 2016. He’s one of over 20 operators who work behind the scenes every day taking calls for all kinds of emergency situations.
He was recently recognized as one of the best in the business by state officials: He was selected as the 2021 Dispatcher of the Year at the annual Indiana Emergency Response Conference held earlier this month in Indianapolis.
The Dispatcher of the Year is a statewide award that recognizes a dispatcher for years of service or for outstanding performance on the job.
“I was completely surprised,” Haddix said upon learning he was nominated earlier this year.
“It’s very humbling because what we do here at the center is often unrecognized, so to be recognized by people who have a full understanding of what goes into what we do is really special,” he said.
Special is a word that also describes Haddix’s work ethic and the route he took to find what he now calls a rewarding career.
Haddix is a former full-time firefighter and paramedic from Ohio, a career he chose as a teenager. He had to give up being a firefighter due to heart issues discovered when he was 23. He took his medical training as an EMT and went back to school before getting into medical imaging. That was something he also had to give up because he had to get a pacemaker.
“So I was forced to change professions again,” he said.
Haddix tried his hand at sportswriting, but missed working with first-responders, so he turned his focus to becoming a dispatcher. He thought dispatching would keep him close to the jobs he loved and that maybe he could be of some real help because of all the medical and fire training he has.
The move ended up being a godsend to local firefighters and dispatchers.
Just one year into his new career Haddix wrote a fire dispatch training manual for new dispatchers that not only paved the way for training, but also standardized some dispatch procedures for the veteran dispatchers, Greenfield Fire Territory deputy chief Jason Horning said.
The training manual project ultimately culminated in a revamping of the 911 center’s training procedures as a whole from start to finish for new employees. That led Haddix to being promoted as a trainer for the organization, and he has since being promoted to the assistant supervisor for the day shift at the Hancock County 911 Center.
Horning is the one who nominated Haddix for the state award, saying he likes to brag on his own people. While he isn’t officially a member of the fire department, he’s on the emergency team and deserved the recognition.
“He’s always striving to make the place better,” Horning said. “The better the dispatchers are, the better we are and the safer we are.”
Horning knows many may not realize what an important part dispatchers play when it comes to public safety and working with first-responders, but he and other firefighters do.
“They play a major role,” Horning said.
From the day Haddix started, his supervisors could tell he had a desire to make a bigger impact on fire dispatching than just answering phones and talking on the radio, Horning said.
Not long ago, Hancock County underwent a major change in fire responses, requiring adjustments to zones as well as runs, Horning said. Haddix went out of his way to assist each fire agency in the county, getting the information updated and entered into the reporting system.
“As a chief officer, I have a sense of security when I know Jason is working,” Horning said. “I automatically know that I am going to receive timely vital situational updates while on route to a major incident.”
As a way to bolster his professional development Haddix joined the National Emergency Number Association. He currently serves as president of the Indiana Chapter and is dedicated to the education, professionalism and continued improvement of dispatchers.
While Haddix admits there are stresses associated with a dispatchers’ job, they are more mental than physical, something he can handle.
“As a dispatcher, I try to listen and explain to people what they need to do,” he said. “That can be a lot more stressful mentally than being there and doing it physically.”
While Haddix became a dispatcher in a roundabout way, he admits other than being a firefighter, there’s really no place he’d rather be.
The Dispatcher of the Year award was just one of 20 different firefighting and emergency service awards handed out during the Indiana Emergency Response Conference.
Each year a committee from the Indiana Fire Chiefs Association, led by Douglas Randell, division chief for the Plainfield Fire Department, gathers award nominations forms from counties all around the state. Randell and his group then read over the submitted forms, without the person’s name showing, before selecting the individual they feel is the most deserving of being the Dispatcher of the Year, said Dale Henson, executive director of the organization and conference coordinator.
“It’s a nice recognition for people who do important, hard work,” Henson said.
