Telecommunicator's Week 2017

I had the honor of spending the beginning of National Telecommunicator’s Week at the Kansas APCO Conference surrounded by other public safety professionals.  I listened to stories of excellent work being done throughout the state of Kansas and marveled at all that we do from behind the console.  911 Dispatchers, by nature, are a highly adaptable, resilient group of public safety professionals and are most definitely the heroes behind the scenes.  I hope that the communities you serve showed you love and appreciate this week for all of the sacrifices you make in their honor.

I want to personally congratulate all of the award winners that were recognized by their peers for their excellent work in the field of telecommunications –

2017 Telecommunicator of the Year – Heather Gerhardt, Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office

2017 Telecommunicator of the Year Runner Up – Deidra Messenger, Sedgwick County Emergency Communications

2017 Line Supervisor of the Year – Nicholas Hill, Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office

2017 Director of the Year – Amy Lierz, Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office

2017 Team of the Year – Harvey County Communications (team members include Darren Ryan, Monica Leonard, Brody Flavin, Matt Regier, Cathy Rankin, Liz Sauerwein, Josh Bieghler, Shirley Wellington, Tayler Bush, Heather Weber, Colleen Riley, Melissa Farlow, Stephanie Bergquist, Ken Jobe, Courtney Becker, Shannon Robbins, Nicky Van Horn, Ryan Olbricht, Jason Heppler, Rachel Corn, Molly Redinger, and Don Gruver)

The nominations for these people were awe inspiring, to say the least.  It is truly reflective of the work being done throughout the state of Kansas by dispatchers who do amazing things daily without much public acknowledgment because excellence is simply expected of us.  We work a profession where there is very little room for error and we rise to the occasion daily and just make stuff happen. 

One of my favorite 911 quotes is “always remember that it’s your voice in the darkness that gives hope to those who really need it.”  What you do is powerful.  I don’t know what else to say besides thank you. 

Elora Forshee,

2017 Kansas APCO President