Audra Rosebook has been a 9-1-1 Dispatcher in Lake County for two years. It was her husband, a former police officer, who initially sparked her interest in the role when they lived in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“I’ve always been in a type of customer service so he believed that I might be good at doing this,” says Rosebook. “I used to go on what we call ‘dispatch sit-alongs’ all the time so [I] got to know everybody, got to know the job, got to love it and they gave me a chance.”
Rosebook and her co-workers have been celebrated for National Public Safety Telecommunications Week by way of special meals and goody baskets from co-workers.
Sheriff Rich Martin, who also chairs the Lake County dispatch board, says dispatchers play an important role in public safety.
“They’re the unsung heroes of public safety when it comes down to it,” he says, “If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be able to do our job and we are fortunate to have a very good dispatch team here.”
Rosebook considers it a privilege to be able to serve in her role as a dispatcher. She loves her job.
“Everybody has their own emergency,” says Rosebook. “It doesn’t matter if your beloved animal has gone missing, or if you’ve just had the worst day of your life and your spouse or your significant other or somebody in your life needs help. I’m just happy to be there, to be a part of it, to know that you can call 911 and trust that they are going to send you what they’ve got.”
Rosebook says her favorite part of the job is getting to know her co-workers who have come like family.
The job does come with its challenges. It can be difficult to stay calm and keep emotions in check while the person on the other end is experiencing traumatic situations. It doesn’t phase Rosebook though whose demeanor on and off the phone is calm.
“I try to let things go as I leave here so that they don’t stick,” she says. “If you do it bottles up, it stays with you, and I like to try and separate. I guess I kind of like to try to forget what it is that goes on. I think it’s something that you naturally have to come by. If there are calls that stick with you and you do need assistance with your mental status or whatever it may be you need to talk it out. There’s always somebody there that will help you with that.”
Rosebook says it’s part of her personality, but it also takes practice too. Her customer service experience has taught her to treat each person as if they were a new client.
Despite what she may hear, Rosebook’s least favorite part of the job is the hours. They work long hours and it can be “tiring.”
There are difficult situations 9-1-1 dispatchers have to navigate. Sheriff Martin recalls one time when two deputies were on a vehicle pursuit that turned violent.
“Gunfire was made towards the responding officers, or the pursuing officers, and that was pretty traumatic that they had to deal with that,” says Sheriff Martin. “It comes out as a pursuit and then all of a sudden it turned into trying to take that information, get other officers there and keep your emotions in check at the same time.”
Dispatchers go through 16 weeks of training in Lake County.
Rosebook says she knew what she signed up for with the extensive training, long hours and traumatic calls, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If I wasn’t here and I didn’t do this job and I didn’t love this job I wouldn’t be able to help the people that are out there that rely on 911 operators in order to get the help that they need as fast as they can get it.”
National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is April 11-17.
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