“These people are the true first responders,” says Lake County Emergency Management coordinator Mark Clary of the staff at the Dispatch Center, tucked away on the second floor of the courthouse.

On a recent weekday, dispatchers Robin Miller and Kelly Hanna each stare at a bank of eight screens that track the complex interactions between Lake County’s law enforcement, emergency services and the public.

“It’s everybody’s worst day when they call, and these people have to deal with that and then be able to jump right back on and go to another call,” says Clary of his team. Those calls can range from dire – like directing a frantic parent on how to perform infant CPR or alerting the Highway Patrol and emergency responders to a major accident on Hwy. 93 – to mundane, like fielding reports of an erratic driver or a barking dog.

Like the hub of wheel, dispatchers answer phones and texts, monitor cameras in the jail and courthouse, and listen in to the communication channels that intertwine the myriad agencies they connect, including all of the fire departments and law enforcement agencies in Lake County, the ambulance services and search and rescue. Although they don’t dispatch tribal law enforcement, who have their own dispatch center in Pablo, the two work closely together.

“You become chaos coordinators really quickly,” says dispatch supervisor Shelly Burland. “A lot of the time it’s just a two-man shift and you have two people who are literally managing emergent situations in Lake County.”

Fortunately, these frontline workers are doing their jobs in a dramatically improved environment, thanks to an influx of federal CARES Act money. The $1.1 million renovation brought a 20-year-old facility up to date with new interactive technology, a state-of-the arts radio system, and features designed to help workers answer over 40,000 calls a year more comfortably and efficiently.

“I’m proud of what the commissioners have done with that money,” Clary says, adding that the new dispatch center is “first class.”

The workstations were designed with employees in mind. Desks can be raised or lowered with the touch of a button; screens can be angled for individual preference; employees can choose their own lighting schemes; and each station is equipped with its own heater and fan. The renovation also added a restroom and kitchenette.

Making the workspace ADA compliant has been especially important for Burland and her dispatch partner Tom Savage, since both are confined to wheelchairs. “It was very challenging before we got this new equipment,” Burland says.

“It’s been a big game changer for every single one of us in here,” she adds. “We’ve really moved leaped and bounds forward compared to where we were before.”

“We’re all very happy and appreciative,” says Miller, a five-year veteran at the dispatch center.

Her eight screens display a mind-boggling array of information that better enables dispatchers to help callers and direct emergency responders. When a 911 call comes in, a siren alerts dispatchers before they even answer the phone. As the computer fills in the name and phone number of the caller, locations pop up and a color code reflects the level of priority. In addition, the county’s GIS mapping team designed custom maps to help pinpoint property owners and jurisdictions across the county.

When a call comes in, a dispatcher might be managing three conversations simultaneously, talking to the caller on the phone and using the radio to communicate the emergency to relevant agencies, all while typing details into the computer system and logging the incident.

“I don’t know how they do it,” says Clary. “My job is to make their job easier. It’s tough enough as it is – they should have the tools they need to do it.”

A recent development is text to 911, which allows dispatchers to communicate on screen via text messages. Another program, Rapid SOS, has added to the dispatch arsenal by tracking the phone that the caller is using and mapping their whereabouts. Clary says it came in handy during an accident on Flathead Lake when a wave swamped a boat.

“They were able to call 911 but they only had about five seconds and boom, the phone was in the water,” he says. Dispatchers were able to pinpoint the location, contact an undersheriff who was close enough to spot the sinking vessel, and summon Search and Rescue personnel, who were able to fish stranded boaters out of the water.

The renovation also updated the emergency dispatch center, located in the Polson Rural Fire District building on the west side of the Polson bridge. “If this building were to go down we’ve got the same work stations over there, identical to what we have here,” says Clary. “It’s a true back-up emergency center – everything is redundant.”

The changes also allowed the center hire a warrant officer, who spends her day entering warrants issued by all the city, justice-of-the-peace and district courts in the county – a task that also includes running a criminal history and entering the person’s name into the local system or a national database. That time-consuming chore used to be part of the dispatchers’ duties.

Clary currently has nine employees at the Dispatch Center, with two trainees. A full staff is 14, and he has yet to reach that number in the four years he’s headed Emergency Management, largely because the job requires such a unique skillset.

“If we can get to 12, I’ll breathe a little easier,” says Clary. “Ideally we’d love to have three people on a shift.”

When he and Burland interview prospective employees, a strong work ethic tops their list, as well an ability to type, multi-task, learn and be part of a team. “We say if you’re a mom and you can handle a household you can be a dispatcher,” says Burland.

Like raising kids and running a household, the job requires superb juggling skills. “A lot of people think they can multitask, but to multitask at this level you’ve got to have good hearing and be able to retain information and handle three or four calls at one time when the phones start ringing off the hook in here,” says Clary.

Trainees typically received 16 -18 weeks of in-house training, finishing off with Burland, who makes sure the newbies are ready to work at a station by themselves. After a year of experience, the dispatcher attends the Montana Law Enforcement Academy to become a certified dispatcher and can continue to receive intermediate and advanced training.

“I love this job,” says Burland, who has spent 15 of her 25 years as a dispatcher working for Lake County. “It’s something new every day. This place is my life, they are my family.”

Clary spent 30 years as a first responder, retiring in 2016 after 12 years as Ronan’s fire chief, before retiring in 2016. He was hired to head the Office of Emergency Management in 2018 after Steve Stanley – now a county commissioner – retired.

“I like doing this stuff,” he says. “I’m an adrenaline junky.”

The job is also rewarding, since these “first first responders” help people day in and day out in crucial ways.

Burland and Clary agree that stress and trauma go hand in hand with the job, but say their team supports each other, and professional services are available for the most difficult incidents. They say it also helps dispatchers “to know the end of the story.”

“But there are calls that just stick with you – that will always stick with you,” Burland says. She’s seen dispatchers calmly give CPR instructions to their own family members or close friends. “When you live in this community you’re going to know somebody. You give them the best service you can possibly give somebody, and then you just take a moment and move on.”

Humor, she adds, is another critical component to surviving the stress. “We find humor in absolutely everything and that helps us move forward.”

According to Clary, the volume of 911 calls used to taper off in the fall and winter, but with the increase in Lake County’s population and the pervasive use of cell phones, “it’s non-stop all the time here.”

“There are times when it’s down,” he adds. “But there are times when you’re flying with your hair on fire for 12 hours straight.”