LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — On the worst day of your life, you might have called 911, and heard Debra Nantz on the other end of the line.
“This is the most important job in the whole city of Lexington. We are here when no one else is here,” said Nantz, a manager at the E911 call center.
Also known as call takers, Nantz says that her department helps keep people in Lexington safe, and she added that it takes a special type of person to do the job.
“This is not a job for a paycheck, this is actually a calling,” Nantz added.
According to the Lexington Fire Department, in a message they send to LEX 18, “From the time a call is received in dispatch, the Fire Department has someone on scene within seven minutes, 90% of the time.”
Jonelle Patton, Director of the center, says the more information you can give a call taker, the better. They couldn’t emphasize enough how the most important information they ask for is.
Of course, from an emotional standpoint, Patton says a key part of the job for call takers is to keep everyone calm in an emergency.
“Letting the caller know and reassure them that help is on the way and that we're doing everything on our end,” Patton said.
Her colleague, Nantz, said there are so many things involved in their job, from asking questions to even listening to the background noises of the call.
She used the following good hypothetical situation: “If we hear a baby cry in the background when it needs CPR, that is a huge success for everyone because we saved a life."
"The call takers, the responders, they are invested in the outcome," Patton added.
Call center officials tell me in 2023, that nearly 100% of calls in Lexington were answered within 10 seconds, meaning that there’s no downtime for call takers, moving from one crisis to another.
“We care for your emergency right there when you are calling, and as soon as we hang up it's time for us to care for someone else,” Nantz concluded.
