Certified 911 Dispatchers actively work with callers while remaining calm in stressful situations, providing life-saving information, and keeping emergency response units well-informed of situations as they develop.
While memorials dedicated to Law Enforcement, Firefighters, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) exist in Kentucky, none are dedicated to Dispatchers. Phyllis Pennington, a devoted Certified 911 Dispatcher with the Leslie County 911 service, decided that it should change. Upon completion of her 911 Dispatcher training with the Department of Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University, Phyllis returned home to work on her idea of creating a 911 Dispatcher Memorial in her own community of Leslie County.
With hard work, encouragement from family and friends, support from the community including Leslie County Fiscal Court, Leslie County Judge Executive Jimmy Sizemore, Wolfe and Sons Funeral Home, and Lowe’s, and a grant from the Leslie County Community Foundation the Leslie County 911 Dispatchers Memorial was completed in November 2018. The Memorial is located at 24770 Hwy 421 in Hyden, KY. This memorial is dedicated to Certified 911 Dispatchers registered through the Department of Criminal Justice in Kentucky that have passed on.
Leslie County may be a small community with somewhat limited resources, but this Memorial is positively one of a kind and the citizens of Leslie County are extremely proud to have this display of dedication in their town.
