Sussex County Emergency Operations Center hosts annual 9-1-1

its seventeenth annual 9-1-1 awareness day today. this was a fun and information-filled day of safety demonstrations as well as educating elementary students the importance of 9-1-1. 47 abc’s justina coronel takes a closer at what the staff takes on — day in and day out. track 1 the sussex county emergency operations center or e-o-c is a central command and control facility responsible for emergency preparedness. director joe thomas explains that these dispatchers are the first piece of the chain to helping callers. well for our 9-1-1 dispatchers they work 12 hour days, they come in and they are the first person that the public deals with when there is an emergency. track 2 from there, they take all the relative information in order to dispatch appropriate level of response. during the summer, these dispatchers deal with about 500 calls a day and during the off-season, it ranges from 300 to 350. the dispatchers go through a 12 to 16 week training period. they’re taught how to basically answer the phone call, how to deal with the person, if they are distraught how to try to calm a person down. track 3 assistant supervisor david perrine, deals with callers everyday. he’s helped deliver babies over the phone and even saved lives for those going through cardiac arrest. perrine tells us some tips for those in a case of emergency. believe it or not, the main thing is to know your address, where you’re at. we have a lot of people who call in and the first question we are your address, where you’re at. we have a lot of people who call in and the first question we are going to ask them is what the address of the emergency. butt sot the basic thing is what is the caller’s provide us with the correct information. track 4 that information makes the job easier — a job thomas says — can be very rewarding. when people dial 9-1-1, it’s at one of their worst times of their life because something’s happened.so for the dispatcher to be able to talk to that person, calm them down, get them the response and help they need, it is a very rewarding feeling because it feels like you made a difference. track 5 justina coronel 47 abc the annual event usually happens in may but now it takes place during this month– to coincide with national preparedness month, as first responders and emergency agencies nationwide stress readiness for potential disasters. shore up is inviting folks to come learn about their adult day care program. the