MADISON, Wis. — Dispatch workers are trained to respond to every scenario, but one call dispatch workers hope to never get is one involving a school shooting.
Monday's call from Abundant Christian Life School was one deputy director Johnny Leonard said will live with his staff for the rest of their lives.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said police responded to reports of an active shooting an Abundant Life Christian School at 10:57 a.m. after a second grade teacher called 911.
“When an incident like that comes in, everyone is aware of it and it impacts everyone in the room immediately,” said Leonard.
Leonard said there were around seven dispatchers working on that call and 20 staff including communicators, trainees, supervisors and quality assurance staff.
“Whether they are taking incoming calls on it, they are working tactical channels for the incident, it really is something where it is all hands-on deck,” said Leonard.
He said no one came in to work that day thinking they were going to answer such a tragic call.
“One of the ongoing stressors of this job is you never know what someone will have for you when you pick up that line,” said Leonard. “It could be a parking complaint or the worst-case scenario, which is what a lot of our folks experienced the other day.”
Calls like Monday’s school shooting are ones that communicators remember for the rest of their lives.
Luis Bixler, Director of Public Safety Communications, said there are many programs and resources available for members of his staff that need help processing the events.
“It is very traumatic because they go through that secondary trauma, They are listening to multiple victims on the phone, trying to gather that information, they are listening to law enforcement as they get to the scene, they are listening to EMS describe the types of injuries they are facing,” said Bixler.
Bixler said while most first responders get to focus on one emergency, his staff have to respond to multiple emergencies every day.
“A lot of the staff that we had here that day, that was not the only event they dealt with, they also handled cardiac arrests and other law calls, so it is very important that we recognize them as first responders,” said Bixler.
Leonard and Bixler said the public have been reaching out on social media showing their support for the 911 communicators following Monday’s shooting and they said it means a lot.
Multiple nonprofit organizations have also been bringing therapy dogs by the communication center as these workers continue to heal from Monday’s tragic event.