To the Editor:

As the director of communications for the Newtown Emergency Communications Center, I am honored to submit this letter to The Bee on behalf of my staff for National Telecommunications Week (April 13 to 19).

We are nine strong with two per diems, covering shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, during storms, holidays, you name it, we show up for you. I try to remember to honor staff with luminaires at Ram Pasture and these yearly letters. I do it because Public Safety Telecommunicators (PSTs) are the unsung voices heard in the dark on your worst day.

For good reason, police, fire, and EMS are honored by the public and given well-deserved accolades (and food:), but the PST is the unsung hero. Yes, we make mistakes, and that is where a strong, gentle hand corrects, and believe me, they know they made a mistake before I even say anything.

You never hear anyone say they want to grow up to be a PST (dispatcher), but people do. We are heroes under the headset and are subject to the same horrors that the responders “see.” We HEAR it, calm you to the best of our ability, and get those responders out to you. All the time, we are juggling multiple phones — radios, and people talking in our ears. We do it in a calm voice — not showing emotion.

So, as a homegrown resident of this beautiful town, I thank them and all the PSTs across the country who did grow up to be dispatchers (and I was one of them).

Maureen Will

Communications Director

Newtown ECC