Ode to ‘The Forgotten Crew’

To the editor:

Having been a firefighter and EMT for many years, as well as needing the help of these brave people from time to time (most recently a call to 911 for an ambulance to come to the aid of my mother-in-law), I realized there is a very important part of emergency services that, unfortunately, more often than not goes unnoticed.

In fact, this group of people serves as a major cog without whom the wheels of emergency services could never turn. These people work the 911 dispatch center in Palmer, best known to emergency responders as “9GBase.” And though I wrote and dedicated the following to them, we should never forget all of the other dispatchers around our great state who go above and beyond the call of duty to send help where help is needed.

The Forgotten Crew

When people dial 911 for any emergency at all,

The compassionate voice of a dispatcher is first to take the call.

They speak with calming tones and with precise articulation,

To obtain from the caller as much as they can about the situation.

Trained to know that lives may be in peril leaves them with no time to waste,

“Where is the problem?” and “What has happened?” are things they ask in haste.

Multi-tasking and working in tandem they take down the information,

Then they activate tones on the radio to alert the nearest station.

All responders, both personnel and apparatus, wish to be heard,

It’s now that dispatcher training is put to use as they single out each word.

Trying to decipher garbled words into sentences that make some sense,

Would make even the most seasoned stenographer close their eyes and wince.

After the storm of radio traffic calms down from a class four to a class one,

Dispatchers know that their job for this incident is still far from being done.

Resources from other areas need to be called in to fill empty creases,

Much like trying to finish a puzzle by using the right jigsaw pieces.

From the initial call to 911 until all units radio in and are available,

These men and women do their jobs and prove they are more than capable.

So next time you hear a siren and see red lights flashing as they pass by you,

Remember help is on the way that began with dispatchers, the Forgotten Crew.

Written June 16, in recognition of our emergency dispatchers, the brave Forgotten Crew.

Randy Poppert

Willow