At 20 years old, 911 dispatcher has a ‘poise you can’t train’

STERLING – On her days off, Alexis Echebarria often cleans her room – a way of “resetting her area” – before heading to Sterling for an iced blondie from 7 Brew Coffee and some shopping.

“I feel like, getting into this job, mental health has mattered so much more to me just with things that I hear,” Echebarria said. “Taking time for myself on the days that I’m off, I think is very important.”

“During a big call, … you don’t really have time to sit there and think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is happening.’ Your brain goes into auto-drive and you just do it. After the call’s over, your adrenaline starts to drop, so you don’t even realize the pressure you’re under, in a sense.”

—  Alexis Echebarria, Twin Cities Communication Center dispatcher

As a 911 dispatcher, the 20-year-old Rock Falls resident is among those who serve as the first point of contact when something goes horribly wrong.

“I wanted my job to be something that could impact someone’s life, and I felt that this would be the job for it because no one knows who it is behind the phone,” said Echebarria, who works out of the Twin Cities Communication Center in Sterling. “Like, they’ll never know it was me, and I’m OK with that. I just want to help someone.”

Echebarria was hired by the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office less than a year after graduating from Sterling High School in 2022. She started answering nonemergency calls in May 2023, and was taking 911 calls that summer.

Listening to Echebarria answer calls, it’s hard to tell she has only nine months of experience, Whiteside County Dispatch Director Stacie McKinzie said. Echebarria has the rare ability to stay calm, cool and collected, she said.

“She sounds like a veteran dispatcher that’s been doing it forever,” said McKinzie, Echebarria’s supervisor. “She just has that poise about her; you can’t train that.”

It’s a matter of handling stress well, Echebarria said, adding that she feels she works well under pressure.

“During a big call, … you don’t really have time to sit there and think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is happening,’” she said. “Your brain goes into auto-drive and you just do it. After the call’s over, your adrenaline starts to drop, so you don’t even realize the pressure you’re under, in a sense.”

Echebarria’s ability to instantly “flip a switch” and go from a call about a barking dog to directing someone on how to administer CPR is what McKinzie said impresses her most.

“We always say [being a 911 dispatcher] is multitasking on steroids, because you’re doing a million things at once,” she said. “You could just be sitting there pouring a cup of coffee and then answer the phone and deliver a baby.”

It’s possible to be a dispatcher for years and never have a CPR call, but Echebarria has handled several rough calls in her time with Whiteside County, McKinzie said.

“No one knows who it is behind the phone. Like, they’ll never know it was me, and I’m OK with that. I just want to help someone.”

—  Alexis Echebarria, Whiteside County 911 dispatcher

Dispatchers have to have strong mental attitudes, said McKinzie, who played a part in Echebarria’s hiring. When talking to a prospective employee, she said she can get a feel if that person could handle answering 911 calls.

Right off the bat, Echebarria gave them the impression of someone who could do so, McKinzie said. Echebarria was only 18 and had very good self-confidence, but wasn’t overly confident, she said.

“I can’t stress being young [enough],” McKinzie said. “The younger you are, the less likely you’ll be successful because you’re just not ready for a job like this.”

Echebarria is one of the exceptions, she said.

Becoming a 911 dispatcher is a six-month process, McKinzie said.

To get hired, a candidate must demonstrate an acceptable level of reading comprehension and ability to multitask, make it through an interview with the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office Merit Commission and pass a psych evaluation, physical drug screen and hearing test, McKinzie said.

A new dispatcher goes through 16 to 20 weeks of training where they earn various certifications, including CPR, emergency medical dispatch, emergency fire dispatch, emergency police dispatch and the Illinois Law Enforcement Agencies Data System or LEADS, she said. Those certifications have to be renewed every two years.

When she started working, Echebarria said she was nervous. Now, however, she feels “very comfortable in my abilities.”

Being a 911 dispatcher is something she said she dearly loves and definitely can see herself doing long-term.

Her co-workers have become like a second family and are the ones who help get her through calls that might otherwise stick around, Echebarria said.

“I work with such supportive co-workers that, after I get off the phone, they’re like, ‘You did great. Don’t stress about if you did something wrong. You did what you could. You got the help there,’” she said.

Teamwork is crucial to being a 911 dispatcher, especially with more involved emergency calls, Echebarria said.

Echebarria put that teamwork into play on Valentine’s Day, when she answered a 911 call from Linda Isaac, whose husband, Tim Isaac, had passed out while driving and wasn’t breathing.

Linda Isaac and her sister Sharon Farber were able to get the car safely pulled over, but neither knew where they were. The Isaacs are from Rockford, and Farber was visiting from San Diego.

Using her available resources, Echebarria said she determined the three were at Interstate 88 and state Route 40/Hoover Road. With the help of veteran dispatcher Tara Baumgartner, police, fire and EMS were directed to the scene, she said.

Farber and Linda Isaac couldn’t get Tim Isaac out of the car to perform CPR, so Echebarria walked them through the steps while he was in the driver’s seat.

It wasn’t ideal, but it was necessary, Echebarria said.

“Alexis had to trust her partner to get the emergency responders there while she was giving the wife CPR instructions,” McKinzie said. “To be able to do that without losing your mind [is impressive].”

Tim Isaac survived and he, Linda Isaac and their daughter, Angel Gaudry, attended the Rock Falls City Council meeting March 19, where they met Echebarria, Baumgartner and the other first responders who saved his life.

Echebarria was among five people honored with Lifesaving Awards, and 10 people recognized during the City Council meeting.

“This call on Feb. 14, I feel like I changed someone’s life,” Echebarria said. “That all makes the job worth it.”