Telecommunicator Spotlight: Telecommunicator Amanda Condiff
After being a stay-at-home mom for several years, and being a nursing assistant prior to that, Amanda Condiff, 29, decided to return to work. She saw a posting for an emergency communication technician with the Baltimore County (Md.) 9-1-1 Center and applied. Now, six years later and recently promoted, she serves as an emergency communication technician II.
Condiff has always had an interest in helping people. “I brought that wholeheartedly to the table,” she says. At the end of the day, the reward for her is knowing that she has made a difference.
Condiff cross-trained for two years and quickly learned that multitasking and memorization are essential skills to perform her job properly. “You have to feel comfortable in your own skin,” she says. Condiff emphasizes that one has to be comfortable talking and typing at the same time. “It does take time to feel comfortable to do that,” she says. She also notes that it’s crucial to know the geography of the working area. There may always be newly-constructed streets, so there’s a need for continued learning and memorization
Condiff recognizes the importance of not allowing things to bother her. “As a calltaker or dispatcher, if you have a difficult caller or a hard day you can’t let that get to you,” she says. She comes to the job prepared for her shift and leaves her work at the door when she is finished. “You can’t take it home with you. It will overpower you. You let loose with your co-workers. A lot of them are real understanding,” she says.
Feeling secure in the 9-1-1 arena, Condiff believes that the most difficult aspect of the job as a calltaker for 9-1-1 is the lack of public awareness about what people should expect and the questions they will be asked. “There is a lack of public understanding. We are wholeheartedly there to assist them,” Condiff says. She believes it is important for the public to understand what telecommunicators do and why they ask the questions they ask. Her suggestion would be to put information on the county website or the nightly news to enhance public awareness about the role and functions of 9-1-1 operations.
Condiff serves on the quality assurance team for medical/emergency calls. As a member of this team, Condiff and her team members listen to calls that are randomly selected by a computer-aided program and review them to ensure they were coded properly and in accordance with the provision of good customer service. The team has discovered that most of the calls have been handled properly as a result of the quality assurance program.
A call that stands out in Condiff’s memory dates back to February 2010, when there was a very bad snow storm in Maryland and she had to be on duty for two nights due to the weather. A woman had gone to a local park to take photos, hurt her leg and didn’t know her whereabouts. Condiff wanted to keep her on the line despite the caller wanting to get off the phone. Condiff was on the phone with her a total of 42 minutes and had to engage the aviation unit to attempt to locate the woman. Condiff kept talking to the woman on the line and the caller told her every time she heard a siren to assist in locating her in the midst of the snow storm. Condiff received a letter of commendation for the manner in which she handled this call.
Condiff also received the 2011 Maryland Telecommunicator of the Year Award. “I was shocked. They kept it as a surprise from me,” she says. Condiff has also received a total of four commendation letters—two directly for her and the other two for her shift as a whole.
Condiff recognizes that in her work she is subjected to the good, the bad and the ugly. Consequently, she feels she possesses enhanced awareness of what happens around her and is also more level-headed.
Condiff says she tries to focus on the good things in life, especially her two daughters and her boyfriend. Her parents live in Maryland, and she also has a younger brother who is in the Coast Guard. Most of her friends work in the public safety field, and she says she enjoys her work immensely. “It’s a very interesting career. It can be frustrating at times. You leave at the end of the day knowing you’ve helped someone,” she says. Would she do it all over again? “In a heartbeat,” she replies unhesitatingly.
About the Author
Karen L. Bune serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Marymount University in Virginia, and is a consultant for the Training and Technical Assistance Center for the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. She is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on public safety issues. Bune is Board Certified in Traumatic Stress and Domestic Violence, and she is a Fellow of The Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Center for Crisis Management. She serves on the Institutional Review Board of The Police Foundation, Washington, D.C.