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Comms Coach Podcast
Welcome to Comms Coach, the podcast that delves deep into the world of training and quality assurance for 9-1-1. Your host, Lori Henricksen, is a veteran in the field with more than 30 years experience as a dispatcher, trainer and high school teacher who started one of the country's first 9-1-1 Dispatch programs for High School students in Las Vegas, Nevada. In each episode, a lineup of expert guests dive into the critical aspects of emergency communications training, quality assurance and improvement. They share valuable insights, techniques, and best practices to help today's trainers and the next generation of unsung heroes. So whether you're an experienced dispatcher, leader, trainer or simply curious about how to set up and run training or QA programs in your center or school, get ready to embark on a journey of knowledge, growth, and inspiration. This is Comms Coach, building the strength behind every call.
Comms Coach Podcast
Season 1 Episode 1 Wendy Lotman
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What does it really take to excel behind the headset—and what does it take to build a team of people who can? In this episode, host Lori Henricksen sits down with Wendy Lotman, Fire Communications Chief at Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about what separates great 911 dispatchers from good ones, and what comm centers can do to find, train, and keep them.
Wendy brings decades of experience across call taking, dispatching, supervision, and training in both Portland and Las Vegas—giving her a perspective that stretches from the headset all the way to the chief's office. She and Lori get into the qualities that define top performers (think resiliency, adaptability, and genuine coachability), the very real mental health toll of the job, and why overtime culture and burnout are problems the industry can't afford to ignore. Wendy shares practical ways dispatchers can protect their wellbeing—from staying connected to a life outside the comm center to actually using the EAP and peer support resources available to them.
They also dig into recruitment: what hiring managers are really looking for, why video interviews say more than candidates realize, how customer-facing work experience translates to dispatch, and what "superstar applicants" do differently in an interview room. Spoiler—generic answers don't land.
And if training is your world, this episode is for you. Wendy makes a compelling case for structured, documented training programs—not just for dispatcher confidence, but for liability protection and public trust—while being refreshingly honest about the obstacles: staffing shortages, tech failures, pressure to rush the process, and the chronic underappreciation of trainers and CTOs.
Whether you're a dispatcher, a trainer, a CTO, a supervisor, or running a comm center, this one is packed with insight you can actually use.
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