Sep 8, 20233 min read

Behind the Call: The Voice of 911 Dispatchers

Written by Rachel Campbell | Photos taken by: Tori Steyne Harper

The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office is the sole 911 center for all of Newberry County. Our dispatch center answers all 911 calls and radio communications for the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office, Newberry Police Department, Whitmire Police Department, and Prosperity Police Department. We also dispatch for EMS, Newberry City Fire Department, 11 volunteer fire departments, 7 volunteer rescue squads, and the Newberry County HazMat team.

We wish the world knew how much most dispatchers care about our profession. To be a dispatcher is a calling, not just a job. Without a doubt, we spend time with our callers at some of the lowest points of their lives.

As dispatchers, we change lives on a daily basis. Whether it’s by just patiently listening to a lonely elderly person tell us their fears or concerns, or by keeping a teenager calm after they are involved in their first minor accident, or maybe even by listening to someone talk about taking their own life while we urgently try to get help to them. Someone’s life is changed with each call that is answered. It is so rewarding when we know that we have helped to save someone’s life.

There are a multitude of different callers, all feeling a range of emotions. No matter what the situation brings, every call must be answered with a calm voice, ready to help. We hear callers scream, cry and beg for help when they have just found their loved one unresponsive or when they wake up in the middle of the night and their house is engulfed in flames. We stay calm and send all the resources available.

Then there are our officers, our firefighters, our emergency medical personnel, and our volunteer services. We are forever concerned for their safety and see it as a personal challenge that everyone goes home safe at the end of their shift or at the end of the call. Even though we are never physically at the scene of any of our calls, we are still most definitely the FIRST RESPONDER.

Most people would have a hard time believing some of the things we hear. But most of the things we hear, we have a hard time forgetting.

A few of those unforgettable stories go; Our dispatch crew has a thing with cold seasons and pregnancies, from delivering babies to dropping Christmas trees on them. It all goes back to a chilly February night when our crew gets a 911 call from a fellow dispatcher requesting EMS.

This dispatcher and her daughter-in-law had gone to Greenwood and were told that the daughter-in-law was in false labor. Once home, her water broke, so they immediately loaded up and headed towards NCMH. Eventually, they had to pull over on the side of the road and, with EMS enroute, the dispatcher proceeded to deliver the beautiful baby girl. Just two measly years later, during Christmas, the night shift dispatchers were failing to put up a small Christmas tree. One of said dispatchers was two and a half months pregnant trying to assist with holding the Christmas tree up when it was slowly and comically dropped on her. Thankfully, everything was 10-4 (OK).