Telecommunicator Paul Wegrzyn said the most difficult calls he receives as an emergency dispatcher involve children. At 7:37 p.m. Nov. 26, 2012, the Buffalo Grove (Ill.) resident had to be on the other end of that heart-wrenching call for help.

The day shift supervisor for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s dispatching center was at home when his 8-month-old son had a seizure. Wegrzyn knew his cellphone call to 911 would go to sheriff’s dispatch, so he quickly ordered his call transferred to Buffalo Grove.

“And tell my wife to leave right now and come home,” Wegrzyn told the sheriff’s dispatcher because his wife also works in the Libertyville call center.

It all worked out and his son is OK, but Wegrzyn looks back at the traumatic experience knowing that dispatchers are forced into similar trying situations everyday. “The kid calls are the ones, where a kid gets hurt … that’s not good,” he said. “But that’s what you have to deal with.”

When hiring new dispatchers, Wegrzyn knows he has to find applicants that won’t get overwhelmed in the heat of the moment. His crew juggles multiple tasks, handling communications with sheriff’s deputies, forest preserve rangers, forest preserve police, and the county’s marine unit in the summer.

“A lot of people can’t do it. They’re intelligent and smart and they come in and … one lady came in and she passed everything fine. But after a couple of hours, she said, ‘Nope, I’m going home.’ She knew it wasn’t for her,” he said. “They aren’t able to have the mindset. You can’t be afraid to answer that phone.”

In Wegrzyn’s line of work, the calls are almost always from someone who is not having a good day.

“They get frustrated when you ask too many questions, but you [the caller] have to be patient and answer the questions that are asked,” he said.

In honor of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, Lake County Undersheriff Raymond Rose recently sent a message to the center’s 25 dispatchers thanking them for their professionalism.

“The safety of our deputies is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the Sheriff’s Office 911 Communication Center. Telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our residents have with emergency services,” Rose wrote. “Telecommunicators are the single, most vital link for our deputies by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information, and ensuring their safety.”

Rose went on to call dispatchers “forgotten heroes.”

Wegrzyn said it can be tough when deputies are radioing back and forth in need of additional and precise information.

“There is no room for error from dispatchers. You can’t miss something, like an alias, lives can depend on the information,” said Wegrzyn, calling dispatchers a special breed. “It eventually becomes second nature. This is what we do, this is our life.”