The only thing hot at WSU on Monday, Jan. 5, was the phone line to Facilities Operations. As subzero cold numbed other university operations, dispatcher Debbie Hill maintained a fevered pace, answering 254 phone calls in her eight-hour shift, or more than one every two minutes.
And she kept her cool the whole time.
“I really don’t know how she juggled all of this, but she did. And she did so with courtesy and a sense of humor, as well,” said co-worker David Olson, a maintenance mechanic with Facilities Operations. Olson was so impressed by Hill that he wrote an e-mail to bring her to the attention of President V. Lane Rawlins.
“You have mentioned how there are many who make this place go,” Olson wrote to Rawlins, “be it custodians, police or steam plant operators. She is one of those silent leaders.”
Olson said he and others in Facilities Operations had to respond to a variety of problems that day in their particular trade areas — broken pipes and coils, flooded labs, chilly offices, slippery sidewalks and floors, snow-choked parking lots.
“But one person that day had to respond to every call and dispatch it out,” Olson said. “Debbie wasn’t just answering for the plumbing shop or the custodial crew; every call came to her.”
And every caller had to be helped. Hill wrote down each person’s name, location and difficulty and then contacted the appropriate WSU workers to try to resolve the problem. Often she was on the radio dispatching aid for the last call while the phone was ringing with the next call.
“I don’t think I’ve been that busy since I worked for General Telephone in Moscow when Mount St. Helens blew,” Hill said. “This was the busiest single day I’ve had since I’ve been out here.” Hill joined the Facilities Operations dispatch center in 1997.
Her work there will be valued a good long while, according to her co-worker. “She is one of those unsung heroes,” Olson said. “And I am sure it is less because that’s her job and more because that’s the person she is.”
Rawlins said he plans to find a way to recognize Hill. And he commended Olson for “his spirit of recognizing others. That is really heartwarming.”
