• BY J.R. ORTEGA - JRORTEGA@VICAD.COM
• Originally published December 2, 2009 at 8:33 p.m., updated December 3, 2009 at 11 a.m.

• Victoria recipients of the 2008 Texas EMS Telecommunicator of the Year awardEva Olguin

  Lori Kliem

  Pat Cantu

  The dispatchers each won the award for their response to the bus crash on U.S. Highway 59. One man died ...

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Victoria recipients of the 2008 Texas EMS Telecommunicator of the Year awardEva Olguin

Lori Kliem

Pat Cantu

The dispatchers each won the award for their response to the bus crash on U.S. Highway 59. One man died and several passengers were injured in Jan. 2, 2008 accident.

Katie Moore BioHas been employed as a dispatcher for Victoria Police Department since Feb. 11, 2006.

Daughter of LaNell Moore, Victoria and Robert Moore, Victoria

Graduate of St. Joseph High School.

Has completed advand-ced training as Incident Dispatcher, Emergency Medical Dispatcher, Emergency Fire Dispatcher, and Texas Telecommunications Emergency Response Team training.

Is certified as a TCLEOSE Intermediate telecommunicator.

Is the fifth dispatcher from Victoria Police Department Public Safety Communications to be honored with a state-wide award.

When a woman was panicking and fearing her husband was having a heart attack on the road, dispatcher Katie Moore knew exactly what to do.

The 24-year-old's name on the 2009 Texas EMS Telecommunicator of the Year award for that call shimmers in support of that fact.

"We're the nameless, faceless voice on the other end of the line," Moore said, adding that she and other dispatchers around the country are silent heroes.

The police department nominated her for the award which was presented last week at the Texas EMS Conference in Fort Worth.

The day is never planned when Moore parks herself in front of several computer screens for her 12-hour shift.

One day can be calm.

Another: hectic.

Moore remembers watching Rescue 911, a reality television show about dispatchers, as a kid.

Moore and her father's interest in the show played a huge role in her career choice, she said.

"I kept telling him, 'That is so cool. I want to do that when I grow up, Dad,'" she said. "The rest is history."

Twenty years later, Moore found herself taking that lifesaving phone call, just like she had seen on TV when she was a child.

A couple traveling from West Columbia to Victoria stopped alongside the road on U.S. Highway Business 59 near Loop 463 after the man driving suffered a heart attack.

His wife was unsure of where they were and Moore worked with OnStar to learn the location and sent Victoria EMS.

Moore gave CPR instructions and kept the first responders informed of the ongoing situation.

Moore was never able to find out the names of the people she helped that day, but the call stays fresh in her mind, she said.

That's just the nature of the job, she said.

The frustrating part about being a dispatcher is feeling helpful but helpless, Moore said.

"The hardest part for me is to not physically help somebody," Moore said. "I can't jump through the phone and help a woman who is trapped in the bathroom trying to escape her abusive husband."

Moore has always been one to give, said her father Robert Moore.

"She has a heart of gold," her father said. "That's Katie. She won't admit to it."

At 10 years old, Katie used to travel with her father on his wrecker with a scanner, her father said.

She quickly took to learning the scanner, he said.

"She would always ask questions, and I would quiz her," he said.

Her father's persistence in teaching her has paid off, said Donna Hunt, Moore's supervisor.

"The award she received shows the type of service she provides for callers everyday," Hunt said about Moore, who has worked with dispatch since February 2006.

Not just anyone can be a dispatcher, Hunt said.

A successful dispatcher must carry a variety of traits from being a great listener to multitasking.

Katie embodies these, Hunt said.

"Katie is a very kind and caring young lady," Hunt said. "The kind of person she is reflects in the work that we do. You must be an empathetic person, willing to help others no matter what the situation is."

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