Randolph County short telecommunicators, contracting travel workers

RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — There is a nationwide staffing shortage of telecommunicators.

They are the people who answer the phone when you call 911 for help.

Randolph County has taken steps to address the problem in its emergency services department by using a contract agency. It’s similar to how hospitals recruited travel nurses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy Director of Randolph County Emergency Services Jared Byrd has been working in telecommunications for almost 20 years and said it’s harder than ever to find people who want to wear the headset.

In those critical moments when a call is placed, lives hang in the balance, and in Randolph County, not enough people are manning those eight-screen pods.

“It’s a nationwide issue, especially after COVID. This is a very stressful job,” Byrd said.

Byrd loves telecommunications.

“It’s something different every day. I really do love that part of it and, of course, helping people,” Byrd said.

But he recognizes the people he supervises are stretched thin. He told Randolph County commissioners earlier in July that they’re in a tough spot by being 15 short.

“We have 35 positions. We have 20 people who are fully trained and fully released to do the job, and seven people in training. Three out of four shifts do not even have the minimum that we feel is necessary to answer the phone call,” Byrd said to the commission in July.

He asked the county to allow them to use $175,000 in carryover funding to hire trained travel telecommunicators for six months.

“It’s more expensive for this, but the benefit is we can get someone quickly to help fill the role at least until we get back fully staffed,” Byrd said.

The county approved the funding.

“One of our commissioners mentioned the most important call our citizens will make is to 911,” Byrd said.

“We can’t be used to working short because there’s gonna be those days we’re a lot busier than normal, and we need folks to answer those calls,” he said.

On Monday, they needed a staff of nine and made due with seven.

They’re working with the county to evaluate the pay structure for the position to be more competitive, and as those seven additional people are trained, the workload should become more manageable.