GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Hard work and extra effort were recognized Wednesday as Brown County Telecommunicators were praised for their work in 2018.
Emergency crews, law enforcement and family members of Brown County telecommunicators were at the Emergency Operations Center for the presentations.
Dozens were awarded for their work in responding.
One event, in particular, was highlighted as a TEAM Award winner. When heavy snow fell last April, over 5,000 calls came into dispatch in a short period of time. Pat Perez was a Supervisor for the event and says everybody kept calm.
“The calls came in a two and a half day period.”
A team of 30 people was awarded for their efforts. She says they received about 69 calls an hour that day. 1,243 calls were 911 calls. Perez says 54 accidents were reported, 328 were calls to assist vehicles off the roadway and 23 were abandoned cars. She says it was also a busy time for Fire and EMS with 10 structure fires, 12 building collapses and many calls for mutual aid. She says the team had one big goal in mind.
“Nobody was injured and if they are injured, help gets there in a timely manner.”
In another award, Telecommunicator Jessica Perock was given a stork award for helping deliver a baby over the phone in November.
“The father at the time stayed very calm and worked with me so together we were able to do everything that we needed to do.”
Perock even got the chance to hold baby Zayden Lee Wambold as she was given the award. “I was really excited when I heard that I would get the chance to do that.”
Perock says when it comes to delivering a baby, communication is the most important element since you can’t see what is going on at the time.
An award was given to the team who assisted with a Mayday call when a member of the fire department crew was trapped in a building on Beach Tree Drive.
Jesse Hettman and Glenn’s 24Hr Towing were awarded a citizen award after Jesse lost his life while he was trying to assist another vehicle on the roadway last January.
Among the individual award winners, Amy Shannon was named Telecommunicator of the Year.
The awards come during a week set aside to remember the work that telecommunicators do.
