County officials honor telecommunicators

County commissioners issued a proclamation naming this week Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

WEST CHESTER » Emergency personnel at the Chester County 9-1-1 center take more than 260,000 calls a year. Many of them, an official said this week, end the same way no matter what the crisis.

John Haynes, the county’s deputy director for the Department of Emergency Services 9-1-1 Operations, told the county commissioners at a work session on Tuesday that he was recently walking through the telecommunications area when he heard a relatively new call taker speaking to a party on the 9-1-1 line.

“I am going to stay on the phone with you until help arrives,” the man, Adam Castellani, told the caller, Haynes said.

“In Chester County, we are very fortunate to be able to provide service such as that when people are in need. We want people to feel like they are never alone,” Haynes said.

Castellani accompanied Haynes to the meeting at which the commissioners issued a proclamation naming this week Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

In it, the commissioners lauded the 72 full-time and eight part-time telecommunicators who provide residents with vital services by answering calls for police, fire and medical emergencies and dispatching the appropriate assistance as quickly as possible.

According to the county, telecommunicators received 261,100 emergency telephone calls for assistance during 2017 and dispatched 412,979 emergency incidents to the 57 police departments, 52 fire departments, 28 Emergency Medical Services agencies and one hazardous materials team located here.

“Chester County’s telecommunicators are skilled, dedicated professionals committed to improving the emergency capabilities of all response agencies through leadership and participation in training programs and other professional activities,” the proclamation read.

“In Chester County, we are very fortunate to be able to provide service such as that when people are in need. We want people to feel like they are never alone.”

— John Haynes, the county’s deputy director for the Department of Emergency Services 9-1-1 Operations