As part of National Telecommunicators Week, citizens are reminded the ways they can help dispatchers and 911 personnel better help save lives in the community.

Pella Administrative Services Manager Marcia Slycord with the Pella Police Department tells KNIA/KRLS News the telecommunications staff is the first line of communication is almost all emergencies, and it’s vital to have qualified people in place to handle calls when every minute and second matters. She says that was evident this past December when a truck slammed through the front doors of the Pella Walmart and killed three people.

“It’s important for them to be trained and always ready to take that call, because we never know what’s on the other end of that phone call,” she says. “We try to prepare for those instances, but you just can’t prepare for everything.”

Slycord says every detail matters in emergency situations.

“When we’re asking what might be a silly question, you might think as a caller it might be an irrelevant question–but they’re very important questions to us so that we can paint that picture for the officers,” she says.

Tune in later this week to Let’s Talk Pella to hear more about the Pella Police Department and how their telecommunication’s staff responds to emergencies.