The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Stoufi'ville Sun-Tribune I www.yor|ueglon.corn I Thursday, April 17, 2014, 24 BY SEAN PEARCE spearr‘t@yrmg.com‘ York Region took some time to honour a group of its outstanding police. fire and EMS call takers and dispatchers last week. The 16th annual Iii-Services Emergen- cy Communicators Awards were held at the region’s administration centre in Newman ket on Thursday evening and coincided with National Public Safety Tblecommu- nications Week. which runs from April 13 to 19. The awards are intended to pay tribute to the outstanding work of highly dedicated - s as Masai" L -_ and extensively-trained 911 communica- tors. All together. 55 communication cen- tre professionals were recognized over the course of the evening. but two of the most important honours may have gone to a pair of local young people in the form of Special lunior 91 1 Awards The first was presented to 13-year-old Cassandra Fraser of thewan ofWhitchurch- Stoulfvllle. while the second went to seven- year-old Elena Maria Mills of Richmond Hill Both received the awards in recognition for their bravery and heroic actions in dialâ€" ing911toassistfamilymembersindistress. a \MQL) UPPER CANADA MALL VlSlT UPPERCANADAMALLCOM FOR GORGEOUS HOW-TO VIDEOS. FASHlON lNSPlRATlON. means AND nest NEW STORES WHITE HOUSE I BLACK MARKET ‘ ‘IOSE ZARA (SUMMER 2014) \x ‘\ ‘\ «9|be \ Tanya lllghmore received the call taker of the year accolade for her empathetic and reas- suring approach in speaking to an 11-year-old caller who had phoned in to report some dis- turbing alleged events in her home on Jan. 21. 2013. By employing a calm voice, Ms Highmore was able to obtain the youth's location and dis- patch police. who were able to safely locate the young girl and her brother. The dispatcher of the year nod went to Michele Premus for her professional approach inhandlingahomeinvasioncallonlan. 16. 2013. The call came in just after 11 am. and for the next five hours. Ms Premus maintained both her composure and control of the radio and the 42 units which were ultimately dis- patched to the call. She was able to efficiently prioritize the officers' requests and provide guidance and entered more than 100 updates over the course of the call. C Platoon received the outstanding perfor- mance of a platoon award for their handling of all aspects of a home invasion call. From the onset of the call until the apprehension of the final suspect. the platoon worked together as a team to gather information and pass it along to police and the other agencies involved. Finally. the outstanding achievement in the communication centre honour went to A Platoon for its handling of the ice storm Dec. 22.whichlefithousandsinYork Region with- out power. The 911/call centre become a go-to sourceofdetailsforthoseseeldnghelpand information about the outage. Members of A Look for the newest issue of "Make Yourself @ Home” $500 in next week’s paper‘ Teen honoured for coming to grandmother’s rescue STAFF PHOTO/SUSlE KOCKERSCHEJDT Cassandra Fraser, 13, and sister. Jenna, 9, of Stoufiville, came to grandmother lohannaGonzales‘rescuebycalling9ll. Platoon remained at all times calm, profes- sional and resourceful while dealing with more than 1,600 calls to 911 that came in on top of the myriad of non-emergency calls. You could WIN lofS Dulux GIFT CERTIFICATES!