Gary Vargo, an emergency dispatcher at the Negaunee Regional Communications Center, views multiple monitors that allow him to keep track of radio communications, locations of police vehicles, as well as many other important pieces of information that help dispatchers respond to emergencies. (Journal photo by Cecilia Brown)

MARQUETTE — Each and every day, emergency dispatchers assist countless callers who may be experiencing the worst day of their lives, working to rapidly coordinate an effective emergency response while gathering information from the caller and providing any necessary instruction or advice.

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which is held the second full week of April each year, seeks to recognize the men and women who serve as emergency dispatchers for their dedication to helping the public.

The week recognizes “the people that we call the first, first responders,” said Kory Dykstra, communications supervisor of the Regional Communications Center at the Michigan State Police Negaunee Post.

“A lot of these people are kind of unsung. They don’t get a lot of awards, they don’t get a lot of recognition, but they do a phenomenal job every day,” Dykstra said.

Public safety telecommunicators are on the job seven days a week, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, as they provide a “critical link” between the public and emergency responders, getting the necessary information from the caller to responders so they can be prepared to assist in whatever way necessary, Dykstra said.

Dispatchers may handle hundreds of calls per day, working shifts as long as 16 hours long — and many times, the voice on the other end of the line is the voice of a person in absolute crisis.

One example is during the 2018 Father’s Day flood in Houghton — three dispatchers handled over 900 calls within the first few hours of flooding.

“Pretty much everybody that calls here is having the worst day of their life,” he said.

An emotionally challenging part of the job, he said, is the fact that dispatchers receive an “unfortunately large number of calls where the circumstances are truly horrific” and often don’t get closure or learn how a situation turned out in the end.

However, teamwork and a sense of camaraderie amongst dispatchers can help — recognition from a colleague after handling a difficult call can mean the world, Dykstra said.

The team at the Negaunee Regional Communications Center consists of 20 dispatchers, Dykstra said, and it’s one of two 911 call centers at the Michigan State Police Negaunee Post, as the Marquette County Central Dispatch is also housed there.

Dispatchers undergo extensive and on-going training to help them help others — communication skills, being familiar with the complex technology and working efficiently are all key on the job.

At both of the 911 call centers, dispatchers work to help people facing emergencies, frequently multi-tasking and problem-solving throughout their shifts, using a number of computer screens and communication methods.

“We have a lot of coordination,” Dykstra said. “And it’s amazing, we get a phenomenal number of calls considering the population base in the Upper Peninsula is not really that large.”

Dispatchers from the Negaunee center answered over 20,000 emergency calls and over 83,000 non-emergency calls in 2017, officials said previously.

Beyond providing help and support to the public, the staff at the Negaunee Regional Communications Center also serves as secondary dispatch for all Michigan State Police posts in the Upper Peninsula, as well as the Michigan State Police’s 5th District in the southwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula, he said.

Serving as a secondary dispatch to the two Michigan State Police districts means the dispatchers help to ensure the safety of troopers on the road in a number of ways.

“We provide support for them,” he said, explaining that the dispatchers can get specialty teams, such as a bomb squad or a traffic crash investigator, to their colleagues on the roads.

Whether it’s providing police, firefighters, paramedics or other emergency responders with the resources to do their job, helping to keep a caller calm during a difficult situation, or coordinating an effective emergency response, “they will do anything that they can to get you help,” Dykstra said.

Overall, the best thing the public can do to thank responders for their service, he said, is to calmly and clearly answer their questions if calling 911, “because every single question has a definite purpose” and it will help responders fulfill their goal of helping the caller.