all away for Florida
The Georgia TERT group traveled to Collier County,
Florida to assist an overwhelmed dispatch team during
Hurricane Irma. From L to R: Michael Nix (Director – Local
Government 9-1-1 Authority), Tabatha Carver (Fulton
County 9-1-1), Chrissy Medeiros (Floyd County 9-1-1),
Aaron Schwab (Cherokee County 9-1-1), Tamika Kendrick
(Emory Police), Amanda Maddox (Henry County 9-1-
1), Mandy Ptak (Baldwin County 9-1-1), Jonathan Jones
(Athens-Clarke County 9-1-1 / Deputy State Coordinator
for Georgia TERT).
emergency calls consisted of accidents, domestic calls
and people looking for family members.
Nix said the service these 9-1-1 operators provided
during this time was critical for supporting partner
agencies. “In emergencies, we always send in
reinforcement for police, fire and EMS, but 9-1-1
dispatchers for those agencies aren’t necessarily
considered.”
Collier County 9-1-1 is grateful for the support. “We
were relieved to have the Georgia TERT members
here to assist us. This allowed our telecommunicators
to have some much needed time off to decompress
and process what just happened to our county,” said
Joe Nelson, Collier County 9-1-1 Incident Dispatch
Team Leader. “Many of our members were impacted
by Hurricane Irma. The TERT members allowed for the
response and recovery to our personal emergencies.”
Georgia TERT credits their successful deployment
to training and preparation for situations like this one,
and their team members who are committed to serving
those in need.
“Some of these people were on shift 24/7. They
couldn’t leave work. When our folks got there, they
were able to go home and actually see what was
there and what was not there, and see their loved
ones” said Jones. “That part we’re really proud of, and
it was just a great deployment for us.”
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