Editorial: Thanks dispatchers and first responders for service

I want to take this time and thank first responders and dispatchers that truly never get the credit they deserve.

When it comes to dispatchers, they do the work that is overlooked. The mental ability to take a call knowing that someone’s life could be hanging in the balance and it depends on your every word of calmness. The quick thinking has to be the most stressful thing that a person can deal with. The ability to sit in a chair and not be able to physically help someone but guide them with your words takes courage and an ability that most think is easy. They do not know the strain and cognitive ability that it takes to make sure that you end the night with no loss of life.

We also always speak of the military and police as heroes which is totally true. However, first responders including firefighters and EMTs always put themselves in harm’s way as well. I have personally, in my lifetime, been impacted by the quickness and all out awesome work of first responders. Whenever I see anybody with the uniform on, I always give them praise. Just the other day, I thank a firefighter for his service, and he was shocked, probably because they don’t hear it enough. The job of a first responder is dangerous and mentally draining, knowing that not only could you lose your life, but you could be going to a scene of a person that has lost theirs as well.

I especially say thank you in this time of this crazy pandemic where you don’t know what kind of situation you are walking into. We have to admire these people not just for the moments that we see on television, but the day in and day out grind that it takes knowing that today, more than any other profession, could be your last on this earth.

Take time today to thank a dispatcher and first responders. Do not wait until the next pandemic happens or it is a certain holiday. Do it when it is not expected. I guarantee you that it will make some man or woman’s day a lot better.