The Tag

A-Attached or Single: Very Single
B-Best Friend: Marty
C-Cake or Pie: Cheesecake
D-Day of Choice: Fridays on this rotation
E-Essential Item: Jeans
F-Favorite Color(s): Blue
G-Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Bears
H-Hometown: Pleasant Grove
I-Indulgences: Sleeping, Movies, Chocolate
J-January or July: January
K-Kids- Love them, but not necessarily wanting any
L-Life Is: Crazy
M-Marriage Date: unknown, but at the rate I'm going may 2015
N-Number of siblings: 2 sisters 1 brother
O-Oranges or Apples: Apples
P-Phobias or Fears: Not really anything
Q-Quote: Sarcasm, it beats killing people.
R-Ring size: 7
S-Season: Fall
T-Tag 3: Nia, Steph, Kristy
U-Unknown fact about me: Ummm... it's unknown for a reason :)
V-Very Favorite Store: Target
W-Worst Habit: Buying movies
X-X-Ray or Ultrasound: X Ray
Y-Your Favorite Food: Cheesy potatoes
Z-Zodiac: Cancer

The Shooting

"Shots fired, Officer down."
These are the four words that will basically stop the heart of anybody involved in public safety. And these four words were used just yesterday in our dispatch center.



I wasn't at work when the incident occurred, and can only imagine what it was like to hear those words first hand. I was notified by a text page sent to all of Dispatch at about 9:15 that morning. The only information at the time was that there was an officer down and the need for more dispatchers to come in. Let me tell you just reading those words basically stops your world. I had worked all night the night before, and was scheduled to work again that night so I was unable to come in and help at the time. And it felt like my hands were tied in not being able to help for that little bit.



Instead of sleeping for that little bit I sat with my laptop with a window open to each major news stations web page refreshing ever few minutes. My scanner was turned on sitting next to me and I had the TV on to Channel 2, just trying to catch even the slightest update.



Capt. Harold Terry is thankfully in stable condition and they hope for a full recovery. He had been shot twice in the head by a female suspect he had pulled over for suspicion of impairment. Thankfully two other Lehi officers had arrived as back up and were able to return fire, killing the suspect, and saving Harold's life.



Capt. Terry is a great officer and leader of the Lehi Police Department. While he is recovering he'll be greatly missed, especially at about 0510 hours every morning, when he would normally check on duty. My prayers go out for a speedy recovery for our beloved 8J3.

The Birds

No not real birds, in the dispatch world when someone asks for a 'bird' they want a Medical Helicopter. Tonight we had a juvenile male that needed immediat transport up to Primary Children's from one of the more remote areas in Utah County, the best answer for that is a chopper. And let me tell you, both AirMed and Life Flight are awesome. Life Flight has one that is stationed at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center 24/7, while AirMed has one stationed at Timpanogas Regional for 12-14 hours a day. Both do not hesitate to get us the closest chopper they have or one with unique specialties. Life Flight has the pediatric, neo-natal, and hoist specialty teams. While AirMed has high risk OB and burn specialty teams. Each team has a Pilot, and at least one Paramedic and Flight nurse. The teams will fly nearly all the time, light, dark, it doesn't matter, the only thing that hampers them is extreme weather conditions.

These guys are truely awesome and they definitely know what to do to save a life. I found this out personally when Life Flight had to transport my mom from American Fork up to LDS Hospital almost 5 years ago, the flight nurse and paramedic raised my mom's blood pressure from about 45/30 to 60/45 in less than 30 minutes (something that AFH ICU wasn't able to do in 5 hours) prior to take off, and they had it raised even further before landing at LDS.

These 'birds' are a great asset to a 9-1-1 Dispatcher.

The 13th

Those who say there's no such thing as superstition when applied to Friday the 13th, have obviously never worked in a dispatch center. Today there were a bunch of almost disasters in Utah County, but they could have ended up a whole lot worse.

First there was a helicopter crash out near Eagle Mountain, but luckily the pilot, and only occupant, walked away from it with only a few cuts on his face. (I like to call these bounces, cuz in my book if you can walk away it's not really a crash :) He was so well infact that he even got pulled over as he was going home from it for speeding, our deputy wasn't mean enough to give him a ticket tho. (I guess that's one way to get out of a ticket, just crash a helicopter just a couple hours prior to getting pulled over ;)

There was also a capsized boat out on the lake, but by time we got to them they had made to shore and everyone was okay.

Oh yeah, and then we had a report of a possible hostage situation, but as soon as the deputy got on scene everybody came out and was okay, apparently it was blown way out of proportion. Gotta love it when the people that call in embellish :)

So yeah, us dispatchers definitely belive in superstitions. We all hate to work Friday the 13th, don't particularly like full moons, and try never to actually say the word quiet (even when it is). They all just beg for trouble to start ringing in.

The Job

I often am asked exactly what does a 9-1-1 Dispatcher actually do? Well the answer is soo many things it's hard to know where to start. But the folks at 911cares.com came up with a cute saying/quote that I think aptly describes my job ...

Today I ...
Made life and death decisions... Educated a citizen... Helped keep law enforcement officers safe ... Prevented a suicide .. Sent help to a serious car accident ... Helped find a lost child .. Assisted in catching a crook... Was a friend to a total stranger ... Calmed a frantic victim... Directed a helicopter to a serious emergency ... Stayed on the phone to comfort a parent ... Stopped a crime... Stayed calm when an officer or citizen asked for the impossible ... Protected your community .. Gave someone the rest of their life ... Re-united a family with their lost dog ... Recovered a stolen vehicle .. Instructed someone on CPR (and it worked, she's alive) ... Told a cop where to go (and they went) ... Made sure the firefighters got to the raging fire ... Gave someone a hug via the phone.. Worked with a great team ... Worked with heroes .. Saved lives ... Made a difference!

To all those who think we are nothing more than glorified secretaries or our job is just another customer service phone position, I'd like to ask them what they did today?

The Puppy

So here's some pics of my cute mini schnauzer. He's 4 months old now and his name is Jasper. He's super cute and likes to takes naps with me on the couch in the afternoon.
I've had him for about 2 months now and he is completely potty trained. Still working on getting him to stop the puppy biting, he's getting better.
His favorite thing to do is run out of the doggy door with a toy and take at quick running tour of the backyard with the toy in his mouth and then come running back inside. He also does this cute deer-like leap when he plays fetch, and ads a slide to it if we're in the kitchen.

The Beginning

To start off I guess I should answer the first question everyone seems to have when they hear about my job, "How did you get into that?" ...

I was studying Criminal Justice at UVSC and decided to get a job somewhat related. I saw the opening for the dispatch position and thought "Hey that'd be fun". Turns out I fell in love with the job ended up putting off school and have been dispatching ever since.

Yes it can be hard and very stressful, but I usually like the adrenaline rush. And though about 98% of my job is negative, I like knowing that I'm helping people.