Episode 75 | Voices from the Field: National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week 2024

Narrator: You're listening to Public Safety First, a podcast to help you learn about the First Responder Network Authority and how you can be part of the future of public safety technology.

And now, your host.

Jennifer McIntyre: Welcome to the Public Safety First podcast. I'm Jennifer McIntyre and I serve as the 9-1-1, PSAP [public safety answering point], Emergency Communications subject matter expert with the First Responder Network Authority. I'm joined today by Davy Racadio, Maui County's Emergency Services Dispatch coordinator. Davy has been a dispatcher for 36 years, and her call center recently earned national accolades for their work, especially during the devastating Maui fires. I'm pleased to have Davy join me today and talk about honoring public safety telecommunicators. Welcome to the podcast!

Davlynn Racadio: Aloha. Thank you for inviting me.

Jennifer McIntyre: Davy, can you take a second and tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do as Maui County's Emergency Services Dispatch Coordinator?

Davlynn Racadio: Well, I have the pleasure of serving dispatch centers on both Maui and Molokaʻi. Molokaʻi handles the island of Lānaʻi and themselves and Maui, the rest of the county. Basically, we have four islands that we cover. I do everything I can to make life easier for them in all ways possible –technology, furniture, gopher for food. I do it all for them.

Jennifer McIntyre: Funny how that food component is always important to a dispatcher's heart. I know it was a big motivator for me.

Davlynn Racadio: It helps to keep a smile on their face. So, it's my pleasure to do whatever I need to do to keep them happy that they want to come to work.

Jennifer McIntyre: Absolutely.

If you don't mind, tell me about your career. What drove you to public safety?

Davlynn Racadio: Well, I'm coming up on 37 years. I started off as a dispatcher with pencil and paper. I was looking for a job that was close by. I never heard a radio before. When I came in, I thought to myself, what are you doing here? You know.

Jennifer McIntyre: Oh, yes.

Davlynn Racadio: It took me about a year and a half to feel grounded in my position and, of course, the satisfaction of saving lives or locating people. That was always a great thing that made me feel that I was part of the solution, not the problem.

Jennifer McIntyre: Very important, yes. It takes a very special kind of person to do this job.

Davlynn Racadio: Definitely.  We need them to be, you know, on 24/7, right? Personality does help to have a personality that wants to be part of a team.

Jennifer McIntyre: Yes, I've always said it's an environment unlike any other that you'll experience.

Davlynn Racadio: Exactly. And for us, we do central dispatching. So, we dispatch police, fire, medics. And anyone who has a radio in our system we have the pleasure of answering them, too, and helping them in the ways that they're requesting.

Jennifer McIntyre: It certainly expands the role of those telecommunicators beyond the basic calls, not that there's ever a basic call, right?

Davlynn Racadio: That’s right!

Jennifer McIntyre: But the idea of knowing a little bit about public works, and knowing a little bit about the streets department, knowing a little bit about animal services, they become very well rounded in their communities.

Davlynn Racadio: Exactly. And, you know, during our training, we try to have them go out to the animal shelter, have them go out to the sheriff's department and, you know, have them interact with these people that more than likely they'll come into contact with, either on the phone, or on the radio, and build that relationship so that they recognize, “hey, I met that person, I know who that is,” and build their relationship from there out. That's very important to me.

Jennifer McIntyre: I also believe that is hugely important. And in smaller communities, such as what you have in Maui, and throughout Hawaii, those relationships are very important because those can be your family members and your next door neighbors.

Davlynn Racadio: Exactly. And, being that we're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the people that you forge relationships with will be the people that will respond when we have devastation, right? Like when we had the fires; it'll take people several hours to get from the mainland to here to help us. So, it's important that the relationships we forge remain fresh so that we can relate to each other and still have an open line of communications, especially in time of need. That's very important to have that.

Jennifer McIntyre: It is all a team effort, and that was something that was incredibly important to me, during my years in the chair, was being a part of such a dynamic team that did so many incredible things. Just to even be a small part of it meant so much to me. And I don't believe there's ever enough thanks for what telecommunicators do, right? But I do believe their jobs are incredibly important to the overall public safety system. We couldn't do it without them.

This being National Public Safety Telecommunicators week, what does this week mean to you and the 9-1-1 community? What message would you like to share with your peers for this week?

Davlynn Racadio: For me, it is to put my people out there in the public to show Maui County they’re human. They should be recognized for the work that they do. And not only during the month of August of last year, but throughout the year. There's so much focus on the fires that we had, which is important. But, that didn't mean that life stopped because we had the fires going on. And, these people that were behind the radio or behind the phones continued to service all the calls that they could.

You know, it's instilling into them what their job is and how they fit in this public safety world. It's like a puzzle, right? They all fit together in some way. And this is the week when we come back to them and we tell them how great they are for the work that they do.

Jennifer McIntyre: They continue to wow me with how extraordinary they are. And the day-to-day tasks that they do. And then in a crisis, just how they step up and take care of the emergencies.

Davlynn Racadio: Exactly.

Jennifer McIntyre: Yes. As a supervisor, I think that was one of those times that it actually came full circle for me. Being in the trenches, I don't think I appreciated it nearly as much as when I was able to step back and listen to them and watch them work that the full appreciation came around of just what it is they do and how magnificent they are.

Davlynn Racadio: You know, when the fires were going down, I was in Nashville. So, when I got the message that home was burning, I was on a call, “How's our people? How's everybody, and what's going on? What can I do?”

No matter how far away you are from them, your heart and your mind is still with them, no matter what they're doing. My people were well supervised, we had people that stepped up to take care of them. Some of them worked over 20 hours just to make sure that they had manpower. And a lot of times it was just to be there for them to know that someone was there to help them, no matter how busy they were. And that is very important to me.

Jennifer McIntyre: It is tremendously important, and it's just another example of the dedication. Not wanting to leave, being so committed to the incident that 18, 19, 20 hours later, you still want to give because that is where your heart is.

Davlynn Racadio: Yes. Truly, truly heroes.

Jennifer McIntyre: Absolutely. Thank you, Davy, for your dedication and congratulations on such an accomplished career. We appreciate you joining us today.

Davlynn Racadio: It was my pleasure. Thank you for asking me. Mahalo.

Narrator: Thanks for listening today. We're excited to have you join our podcast community. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, and YouTube. You can learn more about the First Responder Network Authority at FirstNet.gov and learn about FirstNet products and services at FirstNet.com.