When choosing a profession, most people look for low stress and high pay. But for some, there is a part of them they can’t deny despite the high stress - the part that defines them as a public servant. In part one of a series of stories about local people who endure some very hard days at work all in the name of helping others, we begin with our most important phone-a-friend. The 9-1-1 dispatcher There are jobs that are stressful; then there’s the life of a 9-1-1 dispatcher -a job where quick thinking is a must, as is a sense of humor. “A sick sense of humor,” laughed Tammy Kugler, a Becker County dispatcher of 18 years. If they don’t laugh, they just might cry. “I have had those days, too,” said Kugler, who like her comrades, have learned how to deal with a job where one minute life is peaceful, the next, it’s tragic. “We get suicide calls where the person doesn’t necessarily ask for help, but they want somebody to come and find their body so that their family doesn’t have to,” said Joan Stenger, supervisor of the Becker County Dispatch Department. “I know one dispatcher here heard the gun shot go off, and that’s so hard for us because we all have kids and families.” Dispatchers don’t have the luxury of knowing exactly what is on the other end of the phone, yet they are likely the caller’s only link to getting help. “We don’t know if there’s a weapon or what is really happening medically, and sometimes what they’re saying is different from what the officers end up finding there, so we just have to try to visualize what is going on,” said Stenger.
Sometimes dispatchers are able to calm callers down, sometimes they’re not, other times they are the strangers in the phone who end up helping somebody through their darkest hours. “I remember one where the mother was holding her son (that had just committed suicide), and I could hear her screaming,” said dispatcher Jeff Swanson. “There was nothing I could do except direct officers there. I think of that one a lot.” “There was one day when I lost a child in a car accident,” said Kugler, referring not of her own child, but of a child who she didn’t even know. Her wording “I lost a child” is indicative of how easy it is to get emotionally involved in the situation. “I don’t ever blame myself for somebody’s actions, but you worry about people,” said Kugler. “It’s human nature to worry about the person at the other end of the line. Sometimes they’re able to take direction from you, but sometimes they just hang up, and so you sit there and worry about them until someone gets there.” Even when an officer gets arrives at the scene, the concern doesn’t stop for dispatchers. “We also need to help make sure our officers are okay,” said Swanson, who says dispatchers will periodically call responding police officers to make sure everything is on the up and up. “They could be wrestling around with somebody, and we won’t know it,” said Swanson. “So if we call and they don’t answer, we send more officers out there to see what’s going on.” Fires, accidents, medical emergencies, suicides - these public service workers have dealt with it all. But those are the bad days. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1457182","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"350","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"750"}}]] Serving a mostly rural county, dispatchers also deal with calls that’ll leave them scratching their heads and using that sense of humor that’s so needed in this job. “I had one lady call because there was a dog in her yard (procreating) with her dog, and she was worried because she thought it was hurting her,” said Swanson, putting his hands up on his face, not sure what he was supposed to do about it. “I just told her, ‘Hey, it happens… they’ll finish up and go along their merry way. They always do’”. Every dispatcher has a story like this, of people who call for ridiculous reasons. “We get a lot of calls that are like, ‘my cable TV is out,’ or ‘my power is out,’” said Stenger, who says despite the frustration that can come with those calls, dispatchers have to always be professional. “We have to make everybody feel like their call is important - even if it’s a stray dog in their yard or a duck in their yard,” said Stenger, who says kids will also call 9-1-1 a lot. Sometimes it’s not legitimate, but often times it is. “We’ll get some very brave little kids that’ll call on a sick parent, or who call because they’re home alone and know they shouldn’t be and they’re very scared,” said Kugler, who says kids have also called 9-1-1 on their own parents during domestic assaults. “Children are some of the bravest people to talk to; they’re so sweet,” said Kugler. Every day is different for these dispatchers, who don’t just take phone calls that can bring them on an emotional roller coaster, but also handle a lot of paperwork duties in between those calls. They are in charge of drafting up warrants, detainers, protection orders, running background checks for day care and foster licensures, and gun permits. There is little downtime, especially if a dispatcher happens to be working solo. “There are times when you’re alone and something happens, and you’re getting all these calls at once,” said Stenger. “But you prioritize, and usually things are over as quickly as they start, and you’ll sit back and go, ‘I did it,’ and I think usually we do it pretty well.” Despite the knot-in-the-stomach kind of calls and gray hair that the job is likely responsible for, these dispatchers are there because they want to be. “I work with people who are like family, and so you look forward to coming to your job,” said Kugler, who like her fellow dispatchers, says she’s in this job for the long haul because she likes helping people. That’s not to say these public servants don’t look forward to some much-needed downtime, when Swanson says he avoids answering phones when he can. “And I think that when I retire one day I just want to work at (a greenhouse),” laughed Stenger. “That way I can just play in the dirt all day and not use my brain.” Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhen choosing a profession, most people look for low stress and high pay. But for some, there is a part of them they can’t deny despite the high stress - the part that defines them as a public servant. In part one of a series of stories about local people who endure some very hard days at work all in the name of helping others, we begin with our most important phone-a-friend. The 9-1-1 dispatcher There are jobs that are stressful; then there’s the life of a 9-1-1 dispatcher -a job where quick thinking is a must, as is a sense of humor. “A sick sense of humor,” laughed Tammy Kugler, a Becker County dispatcher of 18 years. If they don’t laugh, they just might cry. “I have had those days, too,” said Kugler, who like her comrades, have learned how to deal with a job where one minute life is peaceful, the next, it’s tragic. “We get suicide calls where the person doesn’t necessarily ask for help, but they want somebody to come and find their body so that their family doesn’t have to,” said Joan Stenger, supervisor of the Becker County Dispatch Department. “I know one dispatcher here heard the gun shot go off, and that’s so hard for us because we all have kids and families.” Dispatchers don’t have the luxury of knowing exactly what is on the other end of the phone, yet they are likely the caller’s only link to getting help. “We don’t know if there’s a weapon or what is really happening medically, and sometimes what they’re saying is different from what the officers end up finding there, so we just have to try to visualize what is going on,” said Stenger. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1457181","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"350","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"750"}}]] Sometimes dispatchers are able to calm callers down, sometimes they’re not, other times they are the strangers in the phone who end up helping somebody through their darkest hours. “I remember one where the mother was holding her son (that had just committed suicide), and I could hear her screaming,” said dispatcher Jeff Swanson. “There was nothing I could do except direct officers there. I think of that one a lot.” “There was one day when I lost a child in a car accident,” said Kugler, referring not of her own child, but of a child who she didn’t even know. Her wording “I lost a child” is indicative of how easy it is to get emotionally involved in the situation. “I don’t ever blame myself for somebody’s actions, but you worry about people,” said Kugler. “It’s human nature to worry about the person at the other end of the line. Sometimes they’re able to take direction from you, but sometimes they just hang up, and so you sit there and worry about them until someone gets there.” Even when an officer gets arrives at the scene, the concern doesn’t stop for dispatchers. “We also need to help make sure our officers are okay,” said Swanson, who says dispatchers will periodically call responding police officers to make sure everything is on the up and up. “They could be wrestling around with somebody, and we won’t know it,” said Swanson. “So if we call and they don’t answer, we send more officers out there to see what’s going on.” Fires, accidents, medical emergencies, suicides - these public service workers have dealt with it all. But those are the bad days.
Serving a mostly rural county, dispatchers also deal with calls that’ll leave them scratching their heads and using that sense of humor that’s so needed in this job. “I had one lady call because there was a dog in her yard (procreating) with her dog, and she was worried because she thought it was hurting her,” said Swanson, putting his hands up on his face, not sure what he was supposed to do about it. “I just told her, ‘Hey, it happens… they’ll finish up and go along their merry way. They always do’”. Every dispatcher has a story like this, of people who call for ridiculous reasons. “We get a lot of calls that are like, ‘my cable TV is out,’ or ‘my power is out,’” said Stenger, who says despite the frustration that can come with those calls, dispatchers have to always be professional. “We have to make everybody feel like their call is important - even if it’s a stray dog in their yard or a duck in their yard,” said Stenger, who says kids will also call 9-1-1 a lot. Sometimes it’s not legitimate, but often times it is. “We’ll get some very brave little kids that’ll call on a sick parent, or who call because they’re home alone and know they shouldn’t be and they’re very scared,” said Kugler, who says kids have also called 9-1-1 on their own parents during domestic assaults. “Children are some of the bravest people to talk to; they’re so sweet,” said Kugler. Every day is different for these dispatchers, who don’t just take phone calls that can bring them on an emotional roller coaster, but also handle a lot of paperwork duties in between those calls. They are in charge of drafting up warrants, detainers, protection orders, running background checks for day care and foster licensures, and gun permits. There is little downtime, especially if a dispatcher happens to be working solo. “There are times when you’re alone and something happens, and you’re getting all these calls at once,” said Stenger. “But you prioritize, and usually things are over as quickly as they start, and you’ll sit back and go, ‘I did it,’ and I think usually we do it pretty well.” Despite the knot-in-the-stomach kind of calls and gray hair that the job is likely responsible for, these dispatchers are there because they want to be. “I work with people who are like family, and so you look forward to coming to your job,” said Kugler, who like her fellow dispatchers, says she’s in this job for the long haul because she likes helping people. That’s not to say these public servants don’t look forward to some much-needed downtime, when Swanson says he avoids answering phones when he can. “And I think that when I retire one day I just want to work at (a greenhouse),” laughed Stenger. “That way I can just play in the dirt all day and not use my brain.” Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhen choosing a profession, most people look for low stress and high pay. But for some, there is a part of them they can’t deny despite the high stress - the part that defines them as a public servant.In part one of a series of stories about local people who endure some very hard days at work all in the name of helping others, we begin with our most important phone-a-friend.The 9-1-1 dispatcherThere are jobs that are stressful; then there’s the life of a 9-1-1 dispatcher -a job where quick thinking is a must, as is a sense of humor.“A sick sense of humor,” laughed Tammy Kugler, a Becker County dispatcher of 18 years.If they don’t laugh, they just might cry.“I have had those days, too,” said Kugler, who like her comrades, have learned how to deal with a job where one minute life is peaceful, the next, it’s tragic.“We get suicide calls where the person doesn’t necessarily ask for help, but they want somebody to come and find their body so that their family doesn’t have to,” said Joan Stenger, supervisor of the Becker County Dispatch Department. “I know one dispatcher here heard the gun shot go off, and that’s so hard for us because we all have kids and families.”Dispatchers don’t have the luxury of knowing exactly what is on the other end of the phone, yet they are likely the caller’s only link to getting help.“We don’t know if there’s a weapon or what is really happening medically, and sometimes what they’re saying is different from what the officers end up finding there, so we just have to try to visualize what is going on,” said Stenger.
Sometimes dispatchers are able to calm callers down, sometimes they’re not, other times they are the strangers in the phone who end up helping somebody through their darkest hours.“I remember one where the mother was holding her son (that had just committed suicide), and I could hear her screaming,” said dispatcher Jeff Swanson. “There was nothing I could do except direct officers there. I think of that one a lot.”“There was one day when I lost a child in a car accident,” said Kugler, referring not of her own child, but of a child who she didn’t even know. Her wording “I lost a child” is indicative of how easy it is to get emotionally involved in the situation.“I don’t ever blame myself for somebody’s actions, but you worry about people,” said Kugler. “It’s human nature to worry about the person at the other end of the line. Sometimes they’re able to take direction from you, but sometimes they just hang up, and so you sit there and worry about them until someone gets there.”Even when an officer gets arrives at the scene, the concern doesn’t stop for dispatchers.“We also need to help make sure our officers are okay,” said Swanson, who says dispatchers will periodically call responding police officers to make sure everything is on the up and up.“They could be wrestling around with somebody, and we won’t know it,” said Swanson. “So if we call and they don’t answer, we send more officers out there to see what’s going on.”Fires, accidents, medical emergencies, suicides - these public service workers have dealt with it all.But those are the bad days.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1457182","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"350","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"750"}}]]Serving a mostly rural county, dispatchers also deal with calls that’ll leave them scratching their heads and using that sense of humor that’s so needed in this job.“I had one lady call because there was a dog in her yard (procreating) with her dog, and she was worried because she thought it was hurting her,” said Swanson, putting his hands up on his face, not sure what he was supposed to do about it.“I just told her, ‘Hey, it happens… they’ll finish up and go along their merry way. They always do’”.Every dispatcher has a story like this, of people who call for ridiculous reasons.“We get a lot of calls that are like, ‘my cable TV is out,’ or ‘my power is out,’” said Stenger, who says despite the frustration that can come with those calls, dispatchers have to always be professional.“We have to make everybody feel like their call is important - even if it’s a stray dog in their yard or a duck in their yard,” said Stenger, who says kids will also call 9-1-1 a lot. Sometimes it’s not legitimate, but often times it is.“We’ll get some very brave little kids that’ll call on a sick parent, or who call because they’re home alone and know they shouldn’t be and they’re very scared,” said Kugler, who says kids have also called 9-1-1 on their own parents during domestic assaults.“Children are some of the bravest people to talk to; they’re so sweet,” said Kugler.Every day is different for these dispatchers, who don’t just take phone calls that can bring them on an emotional roller coaster, but also handle a lot of paperwork duties in between those calls.They are in charge of drafting up warrants, detainers, protection orders, running background checks for day care and foster licensures, and gun permits.There is little downtime, especially if a dispatcher happens to be working solo.“There are times when you’re alone and something happens, and you’re getting all these calls at once,” said Stenger. “But you prioritize, and usually things are over as quickly as they start, and you’ll sit back and go, ‘I did it,’ and I think usually we do it pretty well.”Despite the knot-in-the-stomach kind of calls and gray hair that the job is likely responsible for, these dispatchers are there because they want to be.“I work with people who are like family, and so you look forward to coming to your job,” said Kugler, who like her fellow dispatchers, says she’s in this job for the long haul because she likes helping people.That’s not to say these public servants don’t look forward to some much-needed downtime, when Swanson says he avoids answering phones when he can.“And I think that when I retire one day I just want to work at (a greenhouse),” laughed Stenger. “That way I can just play in the dirt all day and not use my brain.”Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhen choosing a profession, most people look for low stress and high pay. But for some, there is a part of them they can’t deny despite the high stress - the part that defines them as a public servant.In part one of a series of stories about local people who endure some very hard days at work all in the name of helping others, we begin with our most important phone-a-friend.The 9-1-1 dispatcherThere are jobs that are stressful; then there’s the life of a 9-1-1 dispatcher -a job where quick thinking is a must, as is a sense of humor.“A sick sense of humor,” laughed Tammy Kugler, a Becker County dispatcher of 18 years.If they don’t laugh, they just might cry.“I have had those days, too,” said Kugler, who like her comrades, have learned how to deal with a job where one minute life is peaceful, the next, it’s tragic.“We get suicide calls where the person doesn’t necessarily ask for help, but they want somebody to come and find their body so that their family doesn’t have to,” said Joan Stenger, supervisor of the Becker County Dispatch Department. “I know one dispatcher here heard the gun shot go off, and that’s so hard for us because we all have kids and families.”Dispatchers don’t have the luxury of knowing exactly what is on the other end of the phone, yet they are likely the caller’s only link to getting help.“We don’t know if there’s a weapon or what is really happening medically, and sometimes what they’re saying is different from what the officers end up finding there, so we just have to try to visualize what is going on,” said Stenger.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1457181","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"350","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"750"}}]]Sometimes dispatchers are able to calm callers down, sometimes they’re not, other times they are the strangers in the phone who end up helping somebody through their darkest hours.“I remember one where the mother was holding her son (that had just committed suicide), and I could hear her screaming,” said dispatcher Jeff Swanson. “There was nothing I could do except direct officers there. I think of that one a lot.”“There was one day when I lost a child in a car accident,” said Kugler, referring not of her own child, but of a child who she didn’t even know. Her wording “I lost a child” is indicative of how easy it is to get emotionally involved in the situation.“I don’t ever blame myself for somebody’s actions, but you worry about people,” said Kugler. “It’s human nature to worry about the person at the other end of the line. Sometimes they’re able to take direction from you, but sometimes they just hang up, and so you sit there and worry about them until someone gets there.”Even when an officer gets arrives at the scene, the concern doesn’t stop for dispatchers.“We also need to help make sure our officers are okay,” said Swanson, who says dispatchers will periodically call responding police officers to make sure everything is on the up and up.“They could be wrestling around with somebody, and we won’t know it,” said Swanson. “So if we call and they don’t answer, we send more officers out there to see what’s going on.”Fires, accidents, medical emergencies, suicides - these public service workers have dealt with it all.But those are the bad days.
Serving a mostly rural county, dispatchers also deal with calls that’ll leave them scratching their heads and using that sense of humor that’s so needed in this job.“I had one lady call because there was a dog in her yard (procreating) with her dog, and she was worried because she thought it was hurting her,” said Swanson, putting his hands up on his face, not sure what he was supposed to do about it.“I just told her, ‘Hey, it happens… they’ll finish up and go along their merry way. They always do’”.Every dispatcher has a story like this, of people who call for ridiculous reasons.“We get a lot of calls that are like, ‘my cable TV is out,’ or ‘my power is out,’” said Stenger, who says despite the frustration that can come with those calls, dispatchers have to always be professional.“We have to make everybody feel like their call is important - even if it’s a stray dog in their yard or a duck in their yard,” said Stenger, who says kids will also call 9-1-1 a lot. Sometimes it’s not legitimate, but often times it is.“We’ll get some very brave little kids that’ll call on a sick parent, or who call because they’re home alone and know they shouldn’t be and they’re very scared,” said Kugler, who says kids have also called 9-1-1 on their own parents during domestic assaults.“Children are some of the bravest people to talk to; they’re so sweet,” said Kugler.Every day is different for these dispatchers, who don’t just take phone calls that can bring them on an emotional roller coaster, but also handle a lot of paperwork duties in between those calls.They are in charge of drafting up warrants, detainers, protection orders, running background checks for day care and foster licensures, and gun permits.There is little downtime, especially if a dispatcher happens to be working solo.“There are times when you’re alone and something happens, and you’re getting all these calls at once,” said Stenger. “But you prioritize, and usually things are over as quickly as they start, and you’ll sit back and go, ‘I did it,’ and I think usually we do it pretty well.”Despite the knot-in-the-stomach kind of calls and gray hair that the job is likely responsible for, these dispatchers are there because they want to be.“I work with people who are like family, and so you look forward to coming to your job,” said Kugler, who like her fellow dispatchers, says she’s in this job for the long haul because she likes helping people.That’s not to say these public servants don’t look forward to some much-needed downtime, when Swanson says he avoids answering phones when he can.“And I think that when I retire one day I just want to work at (a greenhouse),” laughed Stenger. “That way I can just play in the dirt all day and not use my brain.”Tweets by @DLNewspapers
