Hutchnews.com: Dispatcher recognized for role in rescue

By Mary Clarkin - The Hutchinson News - mclarkin@hutchnews.com Heather Farney, an emergency services dispatcher in the Hutchinson/Reno County dispatch center, took a 911 call at 8:01 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009, that was prompted by terror but eventually brought two happy endings. Through Farney’s persistent efforts, rescuers found a 9-year-old boy stranded alone in a disabled boat on Cheney Reservoir that summer night. And last month, Farney won the 2009 Telecommunicator of the Year award from the Kansas chapter of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, for her role in the rescue.
Farney was chosen for the top honor out of 11 nominations from across the state. Mary Messamore, director of the Hutchinson/Reno County dispatch center, noted it was the second consecutive year a dispatcher from this center captured the Telecommunicator of the Year award in Kansas. Gary Forbes picked up the honor last year. “We had a complete blind call. He didn’t know what the lake was,” said Farney during a break in her overnight shift in the dispatch center. Several adults had left the boat to try to get help, and the boy, frightened, had called for help on a cell phone, but there was no sophisticated technology to zero in on the location. Farney suggested he sound the horn and turn on the boat’s light, but he couldn’t find the switch, according to the association’s award presentation highlighting Farney’s actions. He was very frantic, Farney recalled. He had no life jacket and was very afraid of the water. Meanwhile, the growing darkness was a concern. “No, you’re not going to die,” Farney said she reassured him. A single mother raising four young children, Farney could imagine him as one of her own. At one point, the boy found another cell phone in the boat and called 911. That call transferred off a tower and was answered in Sedgwick County. “I was telling him on the other phone, tell him (in Sedgwick County) to transfer you,” Farney said. The second cell phone brought more data to help emergency personnel locate the boat. A full complement of rescuers were summoned – the Department of Wildlife and Parks, law enforcement, firefighters, an ambulance team, and even a helicopter. It was a huge coordinated effort, Farney recalled. “They had to use spotlights to find him. It was pitch black,” Farney said. She continued to talk to the boy until he was rescued. “This was a time-consuming and high-tension call,” the association’s presentation noted. “With a great deal of patience, understanding, and creativity – she was there,” it said.Messamore said Farney was the second dispatcher she hired, with Farney taking the job in spring 2006. “Always had an interest in it,” Farney said of the job of dispatcher. Surprisingly, she noted, the call on Aug. 29 was the second one she had taken in two weeks from a youngster seeking help and unable to identify the body of water. The prior case involved a family of 13, and the boy spoke because he knew English, she said.Farney never met the 9-year-old boy who called from Cheney Reservoir, although, she would like such a meeting. “He’s my hero. He just did an outstanding job,” she said.