911 personnel recognized for work during helicopter crash

Three Mason-Oceana 911 employees were selected as 2013 Team of the Year by the Michigan chapter of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO). The group was awarded at Michigan APCO’s annual organizational meeting and awards banquet in Frankenmuth on the evening of October 24.

The award recognizes two or more individuals from the same agency who worked on the same incident, event, or project. Supervisor Amy Heer, Supervisor Pat Dancz, and Dispatcher Leslie Best were nominated by Mason-Oceana 911 Director Ray Hasil for their actions during a December 1, 2012 helicopter crash that killed a Hart pilot and caused multiple traumatic injuries to his passenger.

“There was a lot going on in the initial stages of crash”, said 911 Director Ray Hasil. “There were dozens of federal, state, and local responders trying to locate the passenger by land and air. They knew a passenger was alive and that he was probably hurt much worse than he thought. They were right. Amy, Pat, and Leslie each have 18 years of dispatch experience. We don’t have a standard procedure for every call; this was one. The crash response had 54 years of dispatcher experience working for it in an incident that was matter of life and death.”

The Mason-Oceana team was selected winner from six other team entries.