COVINGTON, Ga. — Covington-Newton County 911 operators deal with the fallout from a wide range of human interactions — from shootings to verbal disputes between spouses.

The agency’s 26 staff members work 12-hour shifts to receive emergency calls for help and dispatch them to their fellow first-responders throughout Newton County’s four cities and unincorporated area, said Covington-Newton 911 team leader Caroline Harper.

Next week, though, Covington-Newton 911 and similar emergency operators nationwide will celebrate with cookouts and special theme days for employees during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

The week of April 9 to 15 is celebrated “to honor public safety telecommunicators for their commitment, service and sacrifice,” said Covington-Newton 911 director Trudy Henry. 

“My team is very compassionate about what they do, dedicated to public service and put in a lot of hours to serve the public safety agencies we support, as well as the citizens of Newton County,” Henry said. 

She said Covington-Newton 911 personnel “are the true first, first-responder” during any emergency. 

“We take the first cry for help, answer the first call for trouble and we always send our best public safety units to the scene,” Henry said.  

“Personally, telecommunicators should be recognized daily for the job they do, but this is a week set aside to honor them for their daily sacrifices,” she said. 

“They spend a lot of time away from family and friends. I am grateful for the job they do every day.”

Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California originated the idea for a week honoring public safety emergency dispatchers in 1981. President Bill Clinton then proclaimed the second week of April as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in 1994. 

Local governments established the Covington-Newton County 911 Communications Center in 1989 and it operates out of a four-year-old facility on Alcovy Road. It is the sole public safety answering point for unincorporated Newton County and the cities of Covington, Mansfield, Newborn, Oxford and Porterdale.

Covington-Newton 911 fielded almost 100,000 calls in 2021, according to its latest annual report. It receives an average of about 26 calls an hour and more than 500 calls per day.

About three out of four calls are for service from Newton County Sheriff’s Office and Covington Police Department with the remainder for EMS, Newton County and Covington fire departments, Oxford and Porterdale police service and sheriff’s office service in the other two cities.

As expected, Harper said the job can be stressful but often becomes less stressful as the operator gets more experienced.

Harper, a 17-year veteran, said she has seen traumatic calls increase along with the population of Newton County since 2005.

She said call volumes typically are higher in the late afternoons after school gets out and residents return home from work.

A big problem for operators is cell phone callers hanging up before their locations are known, she said.

Callers also typically believe “help is right around the corner” after they call, Harper said.

“They don’t understand the travel time involved,” she sai