Texas County 911 links public to first-responders

Whether related to law enforcement, medical assistance or fire, many emergency responses begin with a three-digit phone call.

The familiar 911 call typically goes to a location where trained professionals answer and take action to launch a response by other trained professionals in the appropriate field. In Texas County, such calls are fielded at the Texas County 911 center in the county administrative building in downtown Houston.

Texas County 911 was born in April 2014 when voters approved a 3/8-cent sales tax to fund a single-county central dispatch system, and the center took its first call in August 2015. Prior to that, Texas County and Wright County shared a 911 dispatch system called Wri-Tex 911 that began operation in 1994.

Daily operation at the center is overseen by director Susan Hale and assistant director Terra Culley. Hale joined Texas County 911 in February 2016, while Culley hooked on with Wri-Tex 911 in April 1998 and stayed on when Texas County’s exclusive center opened.

The pair were promoted to their current positions in the spring of this year following the resignation of former director Donna Robertson. They have a staff of 13 employees, including 12 dispatchers (nine full-time and three part-time) and a maintenance person. At least two dispatchers are on at all times, and plans call for an increase to at least three at a time.

Hale said the agency operates within a good team atmosphere.

“That’s what we’ve been striving for,” she said. “I think things are going very well; we have good morale right now and people are upbeat. I think we work hand in hand pretty well together.”

“I think we have very good quality,” Culley said, “and I think it keeps improving each day.”

Texas County 911 call center workers field all 911 calls in the area, but also handle dispatching duties for all county fire departments (except Cabool), the county’s three ambulances and the Houston and Licking police departments.

Culley said the equipment being utilized is more than adequate.

“Our newer equipment that’s used to take calls on the computer is fairly top-of-the-line,” she said.

When a call comes in, sophisticated mapping equipment kicks in.

“If the call comes from a landline, we’ll know exactly where the caller is if they’re in Texas County,” Culley said. “If it’s a cell phone, we can get pretty close, or at least know which tower you’re hitting. With cell phones, we can often track them if they move.”

A computer assisted dispatching system (CAD) allows increased interaction between the call center and responders.

“The Houston PD recently implemented their own CAD system,” Culley said, “so when an officer is out on a call, he can actually add notes into it that we can see and we can add notes he can see.”

Culley also handles the mapping of addresses and adding new addresses at construction sites, using a vehicle owned by Texas County 911 for that sole purpose.

“I take it out often and check addresses,” she said, “and I’m always updating our system to make sure it’s correct.”

New dispatchers accompany Culley all over the county so they know where rural fire stations are and learn potentially important aspects of each and every area. They’re also required to learn how to read and use a paper map before using the office’s digital mapping system.

Administration of funding of the Texas County 911 center is overseen by a seven-member board of directors. Hale and Culley report to the board once a month.

“They like to be informed,” Culley said, “and they give us guidance on what to do.”

“As long as you have your facts and lay it out in front of them, it goes very smoothly,” Hale said.

WHEN A CALL IS ANSWERED

From Jan. 1 through July 31 of this year, Texas County 911 received 14,616 calls, with 58-percent related to law enforcement, 19-percent to emergency medical service (EMS), 9-percent to firefighting and 14-percent to other subjects (including hang-ups, misdials, “additional information” and tests).

When a Texas County 911 dispatcher answers a call, the following moments often involve much more than alerting an emergency response crew or agency. Some of what happens is based on a pre-established, step-by-step regimen designed by PowerPhone, a leading 911 dispatching protocol training company based in Madison, Conn.

In-house training is overseen by Culley. She said that by the time a newcomer is finished with the PowerPhone program and additional training she provides, she’s confident in their abilities.

“By the time I turn them loose, they can handle any call that comes in,” Culley said.

It’s safe to say that being a 911 dispatcher is not like most jobs.

“There have been studies done that have shown it’s not for everybody,” she said. “The select few we have are dedicated to what they do; it’s hard these days to find someone who’s willing to do any type of shift or come in and deal with some of the stress they deal with on a daily, or even hourly basis, and come back every day to support our county.”

That stress can come in the form of some difficult, awful and downright ugly situations.

“When we answer a call and say, ‘911,’ we really don’t know what we’re getting into,” Culley said. “But we are truly the first ones involved in emergencies. We may not technically be able to see what’s going on, but 911 dispatchers have to relay what they hear to the first responders, and we might be on the phone with a caller for five minutes or 10 minutes before anyone is physically on scene touching them and helping them.

“During that time, we’re trying to relay to the caller to do things with their hands or other things that might need to be done. We have to use our hearing to make it a visual so they know what to do until help arrives. Once that help arrives, we step back and let them take over.”

Dispatchers at 911 are literally trained to walk people through crucial actions over the phone.

“We can take a layperson without any medical training and tell them how to do CPR, how to control the bleeding or what to do if someone is having a stroke or they have a missing child,” Culley said.

Sometimes what a dispatcher hears during a call isn’t pretty.

“During my years of doing this, I’ve heard a lot,” Culley said. “I’ve heard the gunshot go off and I’ve heard the glass breaking, and you try to relay that to the responders. It can be highly stressful.”

Texas County 911 has several very experienced dispatchers, including three with 20 or more years: Darlene Engle (who was with Wri-Tex 911 from its inception 25 years ago), Barb Mainer (22 years) and Culley (20 years).

“We have a well-versed crew,” Hale said.

Hale and Culley each do dispatching shifts every week to more or less stay in touch with what their staff members are experiencing.

“Even after 20 years, I still want to be in there because I don’t want anything to lapse,” Culley said.

“And that way they know we’re in there just like they are,” Hale said.

The bottom line is, a 911 dispatcher’s job might take place behind the scenes, but they’re actually on the front lines.

“They may not be the ones you see coming to help you,” Culley said, “but they’re helping just as much – if not more – than the responders who actually get there on scene. If we weren’t here to ask the questions, the ambulance crew might not be properly prepared for the patient they have, or the officer may not know if a person has a gun or weapons or what’s actually happening on scene.

“We relay that to them so as they head for the scene they’re getting prepared.”

The non-emergency phone number at Texas County 911 is 417-967-5309. The agency is also active on Facebook.

•Chairman: Bill Bridges.

•Vice-chair: Scott Lindsey.

•Secretary: Jim McNiell.

•Other members: Wes Campbell, Brad Evans, Hope Martin, Kent Sturgeon.

“When we answer a call and say, ‘911,’ we really don’t know what we’re getting into.”

TEXAS COUNTY 911 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR TERRA CULLEY