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Show w x ( 4 Page 12 UINTAH BASIN STANDARD. April 1 1. 200Q the phone with his son, I had put the old man on hold and he had begun to cry. When I picked up the phone and told him his son was coming, he thanked me and said, "What am I supposed to do?" I could tell from his tone and from where his question hit me that he didnt mean, "Who calls the home and where do 1 find a probate lawyer?" He meant, "What am I supposed to do with the rest of this longnight and all the long nights at the eye of the storm from nights at a "911" Center Life Every day in this country people born and die, injured or lost, victims of natural or manmade tragedy. Chances are good that most of them have contact with a public a 911 safety telecommunicator operator or similar source of help -and the vast majority of the time, help is forthcoming. Have you ever wondered what it is like to be at the other end of that phone, handed impossible problems and expected to make it all better? It is a challenging, frustrating, rewarding job. often poorly paid and little respected, yet absolutely vital. Just ask any mother whose choking infant survived because someone was then when help was needed most. Most people either associate the job with dramatic rescues or with publicised incidents where the system (ailed. Most of the incidents handled by public safety telecommunicators fall into neither category. The job can be made up of periods of exhausting boredom punctuated by intense adrenalin-burst- s of activity. is National Public April 5 Safety Telecommunications Week. Through the efforts of AFCO, the ComAssociation of Public-Safet- y munications Officials International, the second full week of April is set aside annually to recognise and thank the dedicated professionals -approximately 250,000 strong-w- ho spend their careers helping total strangers through the dark moments of thor lives. These professionals range from the operator who answers your 91 1 call, to the dispatchers who send the police, firefighters, paramedics and other public safety professionals to your aid, to the center managers who do all the work required to ensure that the phones are there to answer and the people are there to answer them, to the thousands of dedicated technicians nationwide who respond day and night to keep the system efficient and functional, ' all to accomplish one task: to answer the call for help when it comes. To shed light on their work, the following are typical stories from a typical night in a midsize city communications center Tonight, although cold, is not cold enough to discourage a roving band of car burglars. They hit two northwest neighborhoods, smashing doors, stealing whatever they find. In the first neighborhood, one of the victims hears them break into her car and calls us with a description of the suspects and their vehicle Within minutes, weve dispatched deputies to the area, and have broadcast the description to the other area departments. Even so, the burglars an long gone when we get there, leaving behind several burglarized vehicles that have to be processed for crime scenes. It is my job to run the tags on the cars, find phone numbers for the owners and wake them up to inform them they are victims, and that, despite our best efforts, are were too late to catch the suspects. In the second neighborhood, a deputy discovers another freshly burglarized car and the suspect vehicle parked right next to it. I send a K-- 9 unit to attempt a track, and other available deputies set up a perimeter. The dog tracks for 30 minutes, but the suspects elude us. So the deputies impound the suspect vehicle, which is loaded down with stolen property. The suspects might get away, but theyll have a long, cold walk home and have to an - deal with us if they want their car back. For us, those are grimly happy thoughts. A woman calls, panic-stricke- n, convinced she has heard someone coming up the stairs in her apartment I send deputies, and the complaint-taker keeps the woman on the phone until helparrives. It can be awkward talking to a scared total stranger, to whom even the shortest response time feels like hours, but at least well know what is going on if someone really is in the house. The deputies arrive and the complaint-takcan hear them over the phone talking to the woman through her second-floo- r window. The deputies want her to toss keys down to them so they can come in and check the residence, but she doesnt have the keys in the bedroom with her. She'll just have to brave the wilderness and come downstairs to let them in. She carries her phone down with hears hen if the complaint-take- r anything happen to her on the way down, the deputies will force entry. She makes it downstairs safely, and the deputies check the residence, finding no one. Another false alarm, but better those than the alternative. er Deputies usually enforce the law through the usual channels. However, occasionally they get better results by appealing to a higher power, which is why I had to call the parents of a newly --licensed "Ma'am, this is the sheriff's of- fice. One of my deputies was just out with your son on a traffic stop." "Hes aU right, isnt her "Yes, he's fine. And he didnt get a ticket But the deputy wanted me to call you and ask if you knew how your son drove. Hes in your car, right?" "Yes," the woman answered. "Well, the reason my deputy pulled him over was after he clocked him speeding, he watched him jump a curb in order to go through a parking lot to avoid a light and then spun the tires out as he pulled out It took the deputy three blocks to catch up with him, and he was switching from lane to lane to get around cars. The deputy thought that perhaps you would deal with this problem. "It wont be a problem because he just lost his car privileges," the woman answered. "Thank you very much for calling me. "Man, some cope just came in here and arrested my brother, screamed the angry man. "Yes, that's right. They said they had a warrant. I didnt see no warrant." "They don't have to have it with them. sir. It just has to exist Man, that's bogus, man," he said and hung up. "Ma'am, this is the sheriff's fti-ne- ing, she said. "No, maam. Can you come get him?" because if she kft, who would be home to answer the phone in case someone found her rar? Or the woman who called for an ambulance because her child hod been diagnosed with the Smile of Mighty Jesus. It turned out he had spinal meningitis. Or the man who thinks someone lives in his attic and jerks his arms up toward the ceiling with siring, like a puppet. But most of the people who call u re just scared, lonely, angry, victimized. grief- - stricken, worried, curious, or Must are Many are grateful, or at least polite. And they're never boring. con-ftise- d. g. to come? I remembered a piece of advice I had read in a book by Anne Rivera Siddons, good advice Tor anyone facing a tragedy, and I tried to put it into words for him. "When it gets bad, just tell yourself to endure it for 15 minutes. You can stand anything for 15 minutes. And when that 15 minutes is over, just take on the next 15. It will get better. Not immedi- "What was the score of the game today?" "Sir, don't call 911 to ask the score of the game." 61 Among the worst is when you know something awful has happened, and family members call, their voices frill of concern, but you aren't allowed to tell them anything over the phone. How do you tell a woman to go to the hospital where her husband has been taken after a serious accident, and somehow tell her to hurry without telling her the only reason she's going is to say goodbye? Worse, try telling an officer (in code, so if his radio is overheard it won't be understood) to tell the speeders he stopped parents on their way to the hospital where their child was airlifted the need for hurry is over. For most people, the dispatchers at the 91 1 center are a way station of sots, a stop on the way to getting "real help. Yet occasionally we do makes difference. An elderly woman called us because she came home to find that her terminally-il- l husband had hanged himself but was still alive. She was too small to cut him down. While one of us talked to her, another of us called her neighbor, who happened to be a volunteer firefighter. He ran next door, cut the man down, and stayed with him till the ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital. ately, but it will" He wept on. The deputy who was his neighbor arrived, and the paramedics shortly thereafter. And his life went on, encompassing his great change, and my routine of work and school and sleep and bills went on, and our moment of anonymous contact had passed. - People are funny. Funny pecuand frinny liar, and frinny ha-hinsane. Like the railroad official we called to have a train stopped because we had a car stuck on the tracks he was more worried about whether or not we were going to cite the owner of the cor for blocking the tracks than he was about stopping the train. Or the woman whose car had been stolen and whose neighbors had followed the thief and kept us abreast of their progress via mobile phone. After we caught the thief and recovered the car, we called her to come get it, and she told us she couldn't . a, - 1999 income tax return due date extended I don't usually answer 911 when it rings -- 1 usually work a radio, and in my center the two jobs are separate. But it rang one night as 1 was Taxpayers have until midnight walking past an empty complaint MandavApri) 17, to file their 1999. desk on my way to the coffee pot, so individual income tax returns. Since I answered it It was an old man who April 15 falls on Saturday this year, had just awakened to find his wife taxpayers get a extension to had died in her sleep. I sent an amfile and pay their taxes. bulance (to render aid if she was IRS Rocky Mountain District Direally still alive, or to declare her rector, Jack B. Checks ty advises, lenity dead), called his son and one Although you have more time to of his neighbors, who happened to file your return this year, it would be be one of our deputies. Then I kept wise to take advantage of many IRS him on the phone till someone aroffices being oocn on Saturday. Anri! rived. 15 to assist taxpayers. April 15 is Those phone calls are the worst the traditional filing data, but when Usually we try to stay detached and it falls on a weekend or a holiday, the professional, and address only our filing deadline is extended until midrede in the situation at hand. But night of the next business day. now and then people ask for help at A complete listing of IRS office a dark moment in their lives, and the locations in your state and their cry is heard by the human in us, not hounof operation is included juk the professional. While I was on i in this packet two-da- y . v ed of- fice. One of my deputies is out with the guy you lent your car to and wants to know if you can come get him." "Why, what's the matter with him?" the woman asked. "His license is suspended." Where is he? she asked. I told her. "Is this some kind of joke? she asked. "No, ma'am. His other option is logo to jail. Can you come get him?" "You're totally serious? If this is someone playing a joke, Im going to be really mad It's one in the morn SERVICE PROJECT --The Kindergarten children in Mn. Halli classes at East Elementary are busy earning money and collecting hems for a service project. They are donating items to help some families have a Merry Christmas, and are sponsored by the Christmas Connection and Leslie Harmston. ;.V : 'J? ? y " omf the Susan G. Komm Breast Cancer Foundation present afree tvorhshop. Integrating Complementary & Conventional Methods in the Treatment of Breast & Other Cancers FacIHisied by James Overall, M.D., Professor Emeritus l ilvrrMtjr if Itib Scbasl af Mcdiciac sad acabrr of Caacer Wrllans Haste's Beard ef Trsttcct Dr. Overall's educational presentation combines slides and interactive dialogue. It provides an opportunity for factual learning and thoughtful discussion and is designed to provide guidance in making informed decisions about the management of your cancer therapy. Dr. Overall's Workshop will be held at the Roosevelt Community Center Saturday, April 29lk, 2000 The workshop is from 3:00 until 5:00 p.m. Cancer H ellness House now hosts free supportive and educational program offering?for residents ofDuchesne County whose lives ore affected by cancer. OnacaaiywAaia Nw didiacia bcMaSTOAIWnTzr VMM 7W VUN My fcdudayiwaueauFdaat. ipaaai. This workshop is open to the general publics a cancer diagnosis may or may not be thefactor which compels you to attend. Please register by April 20 for the workshop by calling (801) 236-22, exl 15 (Sail Lake City line). 94 The workshop will be canceled if not more than 12 people have registered in advance. r: m Poor |