VOLUME 5 ISSUE 15
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“Stage Kiss” at the NOMA Black Box
APRIL 12 - APRIL 18, 2024
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Ocala Civic Theatre to host performing arts camp
THE “FIRST” OF THE
FIRST RESPONDERS
Registration is open for the Arts for All youth summer intensive workshop. By Lisa McGinnes lisa@magnoliamediaco.com
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cala Civic Theatre (OCT) is offering a robust experience for young people to immerse themselves in the performing arts by bringing back the popular Arts for All summer intensive. Open to anyone age 9-17, the program gives students the chance to major and minor in two of four disciplines—drama, dance, art and music—plus take general classes in the other areas. Instructors will include teaching artists from OCT’s Academy plus guest artists from the community. The five-week day camp’s grand finale will be two productions presented for community audiences. New this year, Arts for All Too will feature a less intense immersive to expose students age 6-8 to various techniques of live theater, from acting, movement and music to scene painting, lighting and props. The younger set will perform in a showcasepresented after workshops See Arts, page A2
Citizens Insurance touts policies leaving By Jim Saunders Florida News Service
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rivate insurers pulled more than 275,000 policies last year from the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and have taken nearly 115,000 this year, with Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio saying Wednesday he thinks “we’re coming through to the other side” after years of troubles in the market. Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, ballooned during the past few years to become the largest insurer in the state as private carriers dropped customers and raised rates because of financial troubles. But after the Legislature approved a series of changes to try to bolster the market, private insurers took 275,324 Citizens policies in 2023 through what is known as a “depopulation” program. By comparison, private carriers took 16,408 policies in 2022, 2,814 policies in 2021 and 7,463 policies in 2020, according to data presented Wednesday during a meeting of the Citizens Board of Governors. State leaders have long sought to minimize the number of policies in Citizens, at least in part because of financial risks if the state gets hit by a major hurricane or multiple hurricanes. See Citizens, page A3
Dispatchers and call takers work at their stations in the Marion County Communications Center at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Ocala on Friday, April 5, 2024. Editor’s note: The images on this page have been digitally altered to blur sensitive and protected text displayed on monitors, both in text and displayed on maps in the Marion County Communications Center. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
It’s time to honor our local 911 call takers and dispatchers. By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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magine picking up your phone to assist a woman experiencing a miscarriage. “She’s in the bathroom and she’s worried she’s miscarriaging.” Or this: “I see smoke coming out of my neighbor’s roof.” And it’s your job to send help, knowing every second counts. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Marion County residents call 911 with their emergencies, both real and imagined. On the other end of the line are trained public safety telecommunicators (including call takers and dispatchers) who direct law enforcement, fire rescue and medics. These unsung heroes are recognized annually during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, in the second week of April. Starting April 14, the call center crews will be recognized for their selfless work. Both call centers individually have festivities planned to commemorate the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Sherry Gronlund, OPD’s communication manager, shared the “prom” theme to the city’s banquet plans with the “Gazette,” noting in her 24 years working in call centers, “Don’t ask me why, but I’ve found people in call centers usually like themes and they like to dress up.” This year, the “Gazette” went behind the scenes at both call centers on four separate days to learn about those who have helped the county’s 911 operation earn the designation of an Accredited Center of Excellence by the International Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch. From two call centers—one operated by the Ocala Police
Department and the combined communications center under the county based at the Marion County Sheriff ’s Office—staffers work 12-hour shifts, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the dark in front of multiple large computer screens. When a call comes in, a prerecorded response starts playing immediately, introducing the call taker and asking for the address for the call. Administrators always want to have enough 911 call takers so no one waits for a response. Each center has a large screen showing how many calls are being handled and how many available call takers there are at any given moment. If that screen indicates zero available call takers, it goes red and reminds everyone in the room that nonemergency calls need to call back on the nonemergency number, which the center also answers after prioritizing emergency calls. Dispatchers watch the notes taken
on the calls across the room and, depending on the call taker’s notes, can start dispatching law enforcement or the fire department to addresses while information continues to be gleaned from the caller. Marion County Fire Rescue responds to all of the medical related calls for the entire county because it provides medical transport. In between their stoic, kind, but sometimes firm telephone conversations, the telecommunicators also take a lot of verbal abuse from callers. Some examples: “I pay for your paycheck; Do as I say!” In response to being asked for their address a second time, “Are you stupid? Do you have a hearing problem?” And, yes, they have heard every expletive you can imagine. Call takers can’t hang up on the caller. They aren’t customer service. They are a lifeline to people in distress, and they know people don’t all react the same under stress. See 911, page A4
A call taker and a Marion County Fire Rescue dispatcher, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, Nate, works at his station in the Marion County Communications Center at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Ocala on Friday, April 5, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
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INSIDE:
Calling 911..................................... A5 March Madness in April............. A6 Veterans Honored......................... A8 Puzzles............................................. B4 Calendar......................................... B5
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