Gold line ties community's responders together

SANDPOINT — As the red and blue lines of law enforcement, fire and EMS course through the community, Bonner Dispatch is the gold line that holds them all together.

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is honoring the thousands of men and women nationwide who deliver emergency responders to the scenes of calamities large and small.

“We get to help people, maybe get a bad guy off the street or help successfully deliver a baby,” Tiffany Van Buren a dispatch supervisor, said of the rewarding aspects of the job.

Van Buren said frustrating facets of the job include simply being unable to save a life and coaching people through cardiopulmonary resuscitation from afar when the desire is to there doing it.

Dispatchers have helped deliver two babies this year and not without its lighter moments, such as the citizen who reported suspicious vehicle in her neighborhood. It turned out be a large yellow truck with the letters DHL emblazoned on the side.

Want to make life a little easier for dispatchers? Refrain from calling 911 to find out why a road is blocked and how long it will take to get it open.

“That just ties us up,” said Van Buren, who urges residents to sign up for Nixle, which pushes road closure information and other public safety updates to mobile devices.

Also, it's not the end of the world if you accidentally call 911.

“It's OK. Don't hang up,” said Van Buren.

If a misdirected caller hangs up, dispatchers have to trace the number, try and establish contact and make sure that there is no emergency. Things go more quickly and smoothly if callers remain on the line.

Kelli Mazur, a dispatch trainee, has grown to appreciate the vastness of the 1,900-square-mile county and its remote outposts.

“It takes time to get to you,” Mazur said of remote outposts such as Lakeview.

Julie Hale, an administrative supervisor, said the dispatch center's philosophy has evolved over the years. Dispatchers tended to handle their calls individually.

More recently, calls are still being taken by a single dispatcher, but other available dispatchers will monitor the call and carry out background tasks to aid the call.

“There's an awesome group of people here,” said Hale.

Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Strangio, who oversees dispatch for the sheriff's office, agrees and adds that their skill level makes them as good as any of the leading dispatch centers in the nation.

“I would put this team up against anybody,” said Strangio.