Suffolk Lawmakers Show Support For 1st Responder Bill

HAUPPAUGE, NY — Suffolk lawmakers called on their colleagues in the state's Senate to pass a bill including 911 operators and dispatchers as first responders on Tuesday.

If approved, the bill, which has been passed in the Assembly, would make the workers eligible for additional training opportunities and resources like mental health.

"We could not do our emergency response without them," said the Legislature's Presiding Officer Rob Calarco at a news conference in Hauppauge on Tuesday.

Calarco said the county's 911 operators are the first point of contact that anyone has when they call for help whether it is an emergency requiring the police, emergency medical services, or the fire department.

"They are getting these men and women on the phone and they have the most difficult task," he said. "They have to calm these people down because often it is a desperate emergency. People are, as you can imagine, very nervous, very worked up."

Calarco said he and his colleagues are calling on the state to give the workers first responder status, "so that they are recognized for the critical role that they play in making sure that we respond to each and every emergency in Suffolk County as effectively, efficiently and as quickly as we can."

Deputy Presiding Officer Kara Hahn said that 911 operators and dispatchers, who direct responding agencies, often have to think quickly and be very decisive in their actions to get the right kind of help on the way.

"The other first responders do not respond if the first first responders don't get it right," she said.

Hahn explained that some operators often perform the duties of medical personnel as they are answering a call, as in the case of Stephanie Bukowinski, who recently helped a woman in labor over the phone.

Bukowinski said the new designation would go a long way to recognize the work she and her colleagues do.

"We are first on the front line," she said.

Minority Leader Legis. Kevin McCaffrey called Bukowinski an example of someone who went "above and beyond" their scope of duties.

Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees President Dan Levler said the county's 911 operators like Bukowinski are very professional and really know what they are doing, but they are also have heart.

"They care about every caller they speak to," he said.

The bill is expected to be discussed in the Senate before the end of its session.