Board Lauds Emergency Workers in Tennessee
Henry Bailey Jr., The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
It was a day of praise and progress for emergency services as the DeSoto Board of Supervisors on Monday lauded three Sheriff’s Department dispatchers for fast, lifesaving response to a house fire.
“It was just a matter of taking control of the situation, and not getting emotionally caught up in it,” said dispatch Capt. Deeanna Davis of her staff’s assistance two weeks ago to a Lewisburg-area woman trapped in her smoke-filled house. The woman was unable to find the keys to her inside-locked security door.
Here’s what happened: During the house fire, dispatcher Susan Booth acted as 911 operator and colleague Misty Brown as sheriff’s office operator, while Sgt. Heather White handled fire department and EMS dispatch and coordinated “everything in the room,” according to the supervisors’ resolution of appreciation.
Keeping her cool in a heated situation at the home, Booth coached the woman and kept her focused. “I told her to get down on the floor on all fours and to keep a wet cloth on her face to filter the smoke as much as possible.”
This mitigated the danger until sheriff’s Deputy Shane Foster arrived just four minutes after the first emergency call, kicked a door in and rescued the woman. Fire crews arrived three minutes later to knock down the fire.
“This is the kind of hard work and dedication that goes into every call,” said Davis. “And we’re so glad there was a happy ending here – they don’t always end up that way.” She noted that the recognition of Booth, Brown and White comes just before National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 14-20.
“These officers don’t get enough credit for what they do, day in and day out,” said Sheriff Bill Rasco in comments echoed by county Emergency Services chief Bobby Storey. “There’s not enough that we can say about the job they do.”
But the sheriff did have a figure as a measure of dispatchers’ dedication. Some 16,000 calls to 911 were logged just in the previous month across the county.
DeSoto Supervisor Mark Gardner of Southaven, a former emergency medical technician, added this praise: “You dispatchers saved my tail plenty of times.”
In other action Monday, the Board of Supervisors authorized participation in a program to speed Medical Reserve Corp. disaster team action. Aided by a $16,000 reimbursement grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the county Emergency Services unit will streamline operations of the Medical Reserve Corp.
The team is designed to respond during natural or civil disasters or pandemics here or out of the state, said Tim Curtis, Emergency Services deputy chief.
“A new program allows members to be pre-credentialed by the state, so that their licenses and certifications are on record,” said Curtis. “Say that Alabama has an emergency and requests out-of-state help; officials in Mississippi can hit a computer key, and the credentials of our team members are sent to Alabama and get there before the team does. So there’s no issue with their authority to do their tasks.
“There were problems during Hurricane Katrina back in 2005,” Curtis said. “Many out-of-state people came to help, but some had to be turned away because they lacked credentialing.”
As to the current DeSoto corp, Curtis said, “we have about 40 signed up – doctors, nurses, paramedics, and we can use some more volunteers.” DeSoto’s team is the state’s fourth; others are in Oxford, Tupelo and Gulfport. Persons interested in joining can get information on the Mississippi Volunteer Registry website, signupms.org.
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