California Emergency Dispatcher Association

On behalf of the California Emergency Dispatcher Association Executive Board – I want to take a minute to say “Thank You” for your sacrifice and service during this holiday season.

I am sure all of us, at one time or another, have had to miss time away from family and friends to work the holidays, or cover shifts so our co-workers could be home with their families. I’m sure you don’t hear it often enough, but thank you for your sacrifice during the holidays.

As we turn the last page on the 2009 calendar, and head into 2010, we are excited about the coming year. CAL-EDA was formed for ALL Public Safety Dispatchers – with many unique classes and fun, exciting events for Dispatchers and their families. But we need your help to make the Association successful. Join today, sign up for a class. Put together a Wiffle Ball Team – some good friendly competition is right around the corner. It’s easy – everything can be accessed from our website, http://www.facebook.com/l/94990;www.cal-eda.org. Join the Association by the end of the year and get a free class of your choice in 2010.

So, from all of us to all of you, we hope you enjoy what is left of this holiday season. Take time out for yourself and those who are important in your life.

As always, thank you for your professionalism, your dedication, and your service to the citizens of California.

I hope to see each of you at one of our events in 2010. It’s going to be an exciting year!

Kurt

CAL-EDA is proud to be able to send 2 Oakland Police Department Dispatchers to the Law Enforcement Support Agency (LESA) in Washington state. They will be there for three days for Peer Support for our dispatch colleagues who lost four officers recently.

While there are many great programs to help dispatchers who have gone through traumatic events, i.e. Peer Support, Chaplains, EAP, etc, nothing can compare to those who have previously gone through a similar experience. These two Oakland Police Dispatchers will be able to truly empathize with the LESA Dispatchers – as they have gone through an equally horrific chain of events.

It is times like this when I am most proud of our profession, of our Association, to be able to offer help to dispatchers in need. As a group, we rarely like to ask for help, but truly appreciate it once it arrives. One thing I told the Assistant Director of LESA when we were talking was, ‘Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and don’t turn any help away…Dispatchers from all over the country want to do something, so let them’.

Join me in wishing our colleages a safe trip, and hope that they are able to reach out and touch the lives of the dispatchers in Washington. This is the epitome of ‘doing the right thing’, the very foundation of the Association.

As always, thank you for your service. You truly do make a difference.

Kurt