by Heather Rosenthal, Sonitrol Pacific Tacoma General Manager
Posted November 7, 2008

It was a dark and stormy night, but I made the trip once again down to Thurston County….

We met at a different location last night for our Thurston County Citizen’s Academy. We ended up over at CapCom - The 911 dispatch center for Thurston County. We started our meeting off with a presentation by a member of the Thurston County Emergency Management Team. They, as well as MedicOne are housed in the same building as the 911 Center. The presentation focused on emergency and disaster preparedness, and programs that are offered to individuals and the community. One takeaway was an Emergency Resource Guide with a lot of really good information I plan to share with my team. After the presentation we got to tour the 911 dispatch center. They dispatch 7 police agencies and 18 fire departments that offer fire protection and tiered emergency response. While I was impressed with their Center, it really wasn’t any nicer than the new one we have in Everett. Their dispatchers reminded me very much of our own, and during the presentation given by the tour guide it sounded like they have the same challenges that we face. There was one thing that really caught my eye though. One of the dispatchers was away from her console on a break, and when she came back instead of sitting down to work again, she raised her desk area - it looked like it was on hydraulics - so she could stand while she was working. Being a former Sonitrol Pacific dispatcher myself, I thought that was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen.

Once again, another very interesting and informative night with the Thurston County folks.