HANCOCK COUNTY — Officials from the Hancock County 911 Center are coming off a festive week where where community members offered tokens of appreciation during National Public Safety Telecommunicators week.
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is the second week of April each year and acknowledges the tireless commitment of 911 dispatchers. Working around the clock, including weekdays, weekends and holidays, workers at the 911 center provide lifesaving services every day, which oftentimes does not leave much time to decompress.
Gov. Eric Holcomb proclaimed the third week of April 2024 as Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Indiana.
Locally, 911 Center workers decorated the inside of the facility and dozens of groups from around the county dropped off “thank you” gifts, mostly meals and treats, to show their understanding and appreciation of the hard work done at the 911 Center.
People who work at the 911 Center are the ones who take the 911 emergency calls or texts of from people in distress and obtain essential information to relay to emergency medical service providers, firefighters, law enforcement officers and others.
Telecommunicators are also trained to give important instructions to callers to help save lives.
The director of the county’s 911 Center, John Jokantas, said it takes an enormous amount of dedication to do the job and do the job well.
“The job keeps changing,” Jokantas said. “It’s becoming faster and faster and more is expected of dispatchers all of the time. I am immensely proud of our group and everything we do each day. You do it with compassion and a professionalism that is second to none.”
Some 25 full- and part-time first responders work at the county’s 911 Center and are the first line when it comes to getting county residents help when it’s needed the most.
Greg Duda, public information officer and dispatcher at the Hancock County 911 Center, said it’s nice to see the community recognize the work done at the 911 Center and that officials in Indiana do count the workers as first responders.
“We’re just working on and looking to that federal re-classification,” Duda said. “That’s the next goal because while officials in Indiana look at us as first responders and recognize us as that, at the federal level they list us as clerical.”
Regardless, Duda noted having a week where people dropped by to say “thank you” makes the hard work worth it.
“A lot of what we do doesn’t have any closure,” Duda said. “We talk to someone and oftentimes we don’t know how their call ends up because we’re on to the next call.”
Having a week where people were able to drop by and share their appreciation helped the local 911 dispatchers know people understand what kind of service they provide for the community.
“Oftentimes a caller may not say ‘thank you,’ but this week everyone else has,” Duda said. “That reaffirms the job we are doing.”
