NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) and the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board (TECB) recognize the bravery, heroism and commitment to training by Tennessee’s emergency communicators on National First Responders Day (October 28, 2021).

“On National First Responders Day, the TECB honors Tennessee’s public safety telecommunicators and call-takers for their professionalism and dedication to protecting the lives and property of Tennesseans,” said TECB Executive Director Curtis Sutton. “Whether they are police and fire dispatchers, 911 operators or emergency medical technicians, Tennessee’s emergency telecommunicators are the first people who respond in a crisis. I applaud the work of Tennessee’s telecommunicators and first responders in helping save lives.”

The TECB plays a crucial role in emergency communications by assisting Tennessee’s 100 emergency communications districts in the areas of management, operations and accountability.

In 2020, a state law required all emergency call takers and dispatchers to receive telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR) training and offer it when necessary to callers or bystanders. So far, 572 telecommunicators have completed the TECB’s T-CPR online training for a grand total of 1,707 hours of delivered instruction. The T-CPR training is paying off. In 2021, dispatchers at the Wayne County 911 Center and the Meigs County 911 Centers provided lifesaving assistance to residents during critical incidents.

The TECB operates on local, state and federal levels to facilitate the technical, financial and operational advancement of Tennessee’s 911 systems.

Currently, the TECB is modernizing Tennessee’s 911 infrastructure in order to provide more efficient emergency communications services to Tennessee citizens. Earlier this year, Director Sutton recognized Tennessee’s emergency telecommunicators during Public Safety Telecommunicators week with a blog post that can be found here.

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