Laurie Perkins Lewis, Training Coordinator with the Waterford Emergency Communications Center in Waterford, CT, wrote a letter to the Rachael Ray Show about National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week (NPSTW) and in particular about her comm center and the amazing work of her team in hopes to get NPSTW recognized on a very public platform.  This is her recounting what happened next in her words:

“I was blown away when one of her producers, Kelli Spellman (from Waterford) called me for more info. She was very intrigued and asked if the telecommunicators would submit viewer videos telling a little about their job and why they were fans of the show. After the video and photo submissions and back and forth emails/phone calls, Kelli said they loved us but Friday, April 12 was the last day of taping for the season. She invited us to come as their guests to Friday’s show and stated they may use our videos next season.

Jodie Strohl, Tina Cook, Mariaha Knight and myself took the ride to NYC and attended the taping. We toured the studio, had our hair and makeup done and were given front row seats. Rachael was taping a segment on Dennis  Leary’s Firefighter Foundation. She then paused and said there were other hero’s in her audience and proceeded to play our viewer videos. After the videos were done, she called us on set with her and thanked us for everything we do in our profession and for being fans of the show.

It was a surreal and amazing experience! So exciting! She called us 9-1-1 heroes! After 30 years of dispatching, we have been validated on national TV.”

From left to right: Tina Cook, Mariaha Knight, Rachel Ray, Jodie Strohl and Laurie Perkins

The telecommunicators who were not able to make it to the show are Todd Goodhind, Susan DeScisciolo, Michael Smith, Debra Abbey, Ronnie Williams and Communications Supervisor, Lt. Stephen Bellos

The show will air May 13 at 10 a.m. ET. So be sure to tune in to see what Rachael surprised them with!