BRADLEY, WV (WOAY) – She’s been a Fayette County 911 dispatcher and unsung hero for the past six years. When Bertha Blankenship took the call that her husband fell ill in 2022 it hit home and she decided to write a book about her dispatching experience.
Heroes Behind Headset concerns real people dealing with real-life issues.
“We do more than answer the phones,” Blankenship said, calling dispatchers a lifeline. “If you have a baby you have to do CPR on, an unconscious unresponsive or your mother’s sick and fallen and went to the hospital — our job is to get you the fastest help possible. We never know the end result.”
For Blankenship, writing a book about her dispatching experience was cathartic. She calls 911 dispatchers the first true first responders. They get you the fire, law, EMS, and any necessary agency on scene with urgency.
“A lot of times we answer the call and it happens to be our family,” said the author. “That’s what happened in this case. The first call that had come in on my shift was my husband calling for help.”
According to Blankenship, 911 dispatching is intense and you never know who is on the other end of the line or what might come your way in terms of a call. But the colleagues have each other’s back.
“There’s times we could have cancer in our family, we could have a death in our family, loss of a child in the family, car accidents. But we stick together.”
They may have to step outside for a breather.
“Cry a little bit and get it back together,” the dispatcher said. “But we’re there together and we still try to do our job the best that we can.”
Blankenship plays a critical role in emergencies. The community is lucky to have her. She says writing the book is a dream come true and she hopes her husband knows she did it for him.
“I did it out of love and wanted people to know as a dispatcher, I love my job,” she said. “We deal with a lot, just like normal working people do. And (though) when you call that 911 line you have no idea what we’re dealing with behind the scenes — know we’re giving it our all.”
