photo by: Shelley Hanson

Marshall County 911 Director Carol Robinson holds the certificate of appreciation presented to her during a recent Moundsville City Council meeting.

Moundsville City Council recognized Marshall County’s 911 director for her many years of service during its latest meeting.

Carol Robinson, director of Marshall County 911, was presented with a certificate of appreciation at the meeting. She was invited as a special speaker to discuss her department and how tough the job of a 911 dispatcher can be.

Before speaking, City Manager Rick Healy talked about Robinson’s career, noting that she climbed through the ranks to reach her position.

She began in 1994 as part of a 10-person team that launched the county 911 service.

“She is the only remaining member of that original team,” Healy said.

After starting as a dispatcher, Robinson went on to become a supervisor in 2013, an assistant director in 2017 and then director in 2019 — the position she has held since.

She has been an EMT for 38 years and was the first female paramedic in Marshall County. She is also the medical examiner for Marshall and Ohio counties.

In 2010, she was given a certificate from the governor for her work related to the Big Branch Mine disaster.

Robinson described the job of a dispatcher as a “tough and stressful” one because of the nature of many of the calls.

“These people actually care, but a lot of times we don’t know the outcome of a situation,” she said, adding mental health counseling is available to those who need it.

There are 22 dispatchers and many of them have been doing the job for more than 20 years. She noted over the years the number of big events have increased along with the severity of those events. The latest event that required a large response was the fire on Jefferson Avenue in Moundsville that burned several buildings in the business district.

“That day was a lot, but they handled it,” she said.

During a shift there is room to have up to eight dispatchers working, plus a supervisor. The county recently started dispatching for the city of Glen Dale so there is a dispatcher dedicated to that city, she said, along with McMechen and Cameron.

She usually has five to six working on afternoon shifts.

“We do all the fire and EMS dispatching for the entire county,” she said. “We do most everything else except for Moundsville and Benwood law enforcement.”

The dispatchers also take afterhours calls for the public service districts and department of natural resource officers.

“We stay pretty busy,” she said.

New dispatchers go through eight months of training before taking a 911 call on their own. The dispatchers have continuing training monthly and must be certified in CPR and emergency medical dispatch.

Robinson added that she is in the process of upgrading the 911 system to Next Generation 911 via AT&T. The switch over should happen at the end of the year. She noted it will allow dispatchers to answer calls faster than the current system.

“There won’t be much time that you let go of the last ‘1’ button that we will be answering. We’re looking forward to that,” she said.