City of Raleigh News Release - NC 911 Employee of the Year

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Jayne Kirkpatrick, Public Affairs Director
Prepared by:  Christopher Riley, Senior Public Affairs Specialist

For more information: Barry Furey, Emergency Communications, 919-996-5015
 
Sept. 6, 2012


Historically Prodigious Call Taker Is North Carolina 911 Employee of the Year

Raleigh-Wake 911 center call taker Heather Corbett was named 911 Center Employee of the Year by the North Carolina Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association. The announcement was made August 29 at the association’s annual conference held in Wilmington.

Ms. Corbett competed against nominees from throughout the state for this top honor. In April, Ms. Corbett was named the Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Employee of the Year.  

In March, the advent of an area-code overlay, misdialed calls began flooding the center and added thousands of calls per week to the existing workload. During the month of May, Ms. Corbett personally answered more than 5,200 calls. According to her supervisor Jesse Creech, "Our records indicate that Ms. Corbett answered a total of 5,269 phone calls in the month of May. Unless I'm mistaken this is by far the most phone calls ever answered by one person in a month and by anyone who has ever been employed here. It was a number I had to share with everyone as it is amazing to me.  Just another reason she was an excellent choice for our recent ‘Employee of The Year’ for the Emergency Communications Center,” said Mr. Creech.
 
In placing her name in nomination for the state award, Emergency Communications Director Barry Furey noted that some smaller 911 centers don't receive as many calls in a month and in some cases even a year as Ms. Corbett answered in May. He also pointed out that Ms. Corbett's performance during this period was exemplary. "None of these 5,269 calls resulted in a complaint, and she was able to maintain an emergency medical dispatch score of 100 percent for the month." Ms. Corbett has been with the City of Raleigh since 2009.