NORWICH – The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office announced today that 9-1-1 dispatcher Jeff Harter has been named the national winner in Rave Mobile Safety’s first-ever Smart Telecommunicator Awards, a nationwide online campaign aimed at drawing attention to National Telecommunicators Week, held today through April 14.
In March, a total of twenty 9-1-1 call-takers and dispatchers across the country – including Harter – were nominated for the award. Harter, a Sheriff’s Office dispatcher since 2006, was recognized for his life-saving actions of June 24, 2011. On that date, he received a frantic 9-1-1 call from Gwen Hornbeck, mother of then 17-year-old Lauren LaMariana. The emergency? Her daughter was choking on a piece of hot dog and was lying on the floor, no longer breathing and turning blue.
After family members’ unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the piece of food, Hornbeck called 9-1-1.
Said the distraught mother, “We couldn’t help her ... I didn’t know what to do.”
While his fellow dispatchers relayed instructions to emergency and ambulance personnel, Harter did what any dispatcher trained in Emergency Medical Dispatch would do – he attempted to calm Hornbeck down while providing instructions in a calm, professional manner. Without his help, said Hornbeck, her daughter would have certainly died.
“It would have been way too late,” she said of the ambulance which arrived approximately 15 minutes after the original 9-1-1 call was placed. “There would have been nothing ... she was totally blue.”
Minutes after taking the call, Harter’s instructions to push on the prone teenager’s abdomen had resulted in a partial airway for LaMariana, who was now breathing, if barely. Minutes after that, the hot dog had been fully dislodged and she was breathing normally.
Said Chief Dispatcher A. Jones, “That’s why we’re here ... it doesn’t get any better than that.”
As the first line in the county’s emergency service, dispatchers rarely receive the recognition they deserve, which is why National Telecommunicator Week is so important, added Jones. And it’s a department that has – like any other – evolved over the years. Nowadays, dispatchers don’t just take down and relay information, they also provide medical instructions, something Jones called “a huge part of our call-taking process.”
The training involved, he added, is extensive. And a dispatcher’s ability to provide some level of care over the phone “has become critical,” said Jones.
Dispatchers are required to take part in more than 500 hours of field Emergency Medical Dispatch training prior to receiving their certification, including a 40 hour basic telecommunicator class. In effect, it’s now their job to provide medical care prior to the arrival of emergency personnel, whether that’s five or fifteen minutes, said Jones.
On June 24, 2011, that training saved a life.
“We couldn’t be prouder of Jeff and we can’t be more proud of our agency,” added Jones. “We’ve trained to the level that, no matter who took that call, I’m confident the outcome would’ve been the same.”
Besides Jones, the county’s Communications/911 center includes a 9-1-1 addressing coordinator (also a certified dispatcher), nine full-time and six part-time dispatchers. According to the chief dispatcher, there are always a minimum of two dispatchers on duty, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
According to Chenango County Sheriff Ernest R. Cutting Jr., Harter’s winning the national award is “an honor and a tribute to all of the 9-1-1 dispatchers who work day-in and day-out, taking calls.”
He added that dispatchers “never know what’s going to be on the other end of that line ... it’s a testament to the job they do and the pressure they’re under.”
Cutting added he wished to thank the general public and the community for their “tremendous support,” as well as all those who voted for Harter in the national campaign. Hornbeck, in response, called Harter’s efforts “absolutely, phenomenally incredible.”
Added the grateful mother, “Thank God we live in Chenango County ... thank God they have that training. My daughter would’ve died. She wouldn’t be sitting here with us right now.”
Thousands of people nationwide voted to determine the national winner of the first-ever Smart Telecommunicator Awards, said Jones. In addition to the award – which will be presented at 2 p.m. today – Harter will receive a donation of $1,000 for the American Cancer Society, his charity of choice.