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HENRICO COUNTY, Va. - The world is getting an up-close-and-personal view into the life of a 911 Public Safety Dispatcher thanks to a viral Facebook post written by a Virginia dispatcher.
Lynette Jeter, 39, wrote an essay entitled "Just A Dispatcher" and posted it on her Facebook page Wednesday morning. In one day, her post had been shared more than 4,000 times.
"I’m very surprised," Jeter, who has worked as a Henrico dispatcher for 15 years, said. "I definitely wasn’t expecting this at all. I’ve received so many messages from other dispatchers thanking me for telling their truth."
The truth, according to Jeter, is that many people on the outside see a dispatcher's job as clerical work.
"I just explained what so many dispatchers want people to really know. We are pushing to also be labeled as first responders," she said.
The Franklin Military and Virginia State University graduate said she was inspired to write the essay after she heard co-workers discuss how the job impacted their day-to-day lives.
"A younger co-worker, who hasn’t even been here that long, was talking about how she felt bad for losing her patience with her parents," Jeter, a mother of three, explained. "So while I was listening, I thought it was interesting how even though we didn’t share the same amount of experience, we were all experiencing the same issues in our personal lives."
Written By: Lynette McManus Jeter