Newton County dispatchers, firemen, sheriff’s deputies and police officers said goodbye Friday to Pamela Skinner, aka “Momma Pam,” who is retiring after almost 19 years at the Newton County Dispatch Center.
Skinner never intended to become a 911 dispatcher. In fact, it was a co-worker who filled out the application and sent it in on her behalf.
“Darla Loftus, Darla Loftus Jordan now, she worked for me at Bill’s Dollar Store in Union. She took a job here. She talked me into coming to work here,” she said. “As a matter of fact, her mother and herself filled out my application to come here, because I didn’t want any part of this.”
Those first few days, working the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, Skinner was “scared to death.”
“I never, never ever saw myself in this position,” she said.
Despite her initial reluctance, Skinner stuck with the job, helped and coerced by her friends. Now, almost 19 years later, she said it’s going to be hard to leave.
“I ended up walking into something that I grew to absolutely love,” she said. “It’s been the best job I’ve ever had.”
Dispatching is a demanding job, Skinner said, but it’s also very rewarding. Dispatchers are the first to answer when someone calls 911, and that can be both exhilarating and terrifying, she explained.
“When you help that person for the first time, when you answer a 911 call, and you realize at the end of that call, I actually made a difference to that person,” she said. “It’s something that you can’t describe the feeling that you have from it.”
Knowing that your actions helped another person is a wonderful feeling, Skinner said, but not all calls end that way. Some calls, she said, end badly, and dispatchers must learn to process those emotions and move on to the next call.
“We’ve had calls where the outcome was not good,” she said. “You have to work those calls, and you have to get through them. And then, once you’re done with that call, then you get up, you walk out the door and you cry. You pull yourself together, you come back in and you answer the next call.
“This job is just hard to describe. You love it and you hate it at the same time because it just takes so much out of you. But then it gives you so much in return.”
Throughout the years, Skinner said she got to know the Sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and paramedics she sent out. When new first responders and new dispatchers arrived, it fell to her, as dispatch supervisor, to show them the ropes, and over time, they began to call her “Momma Pam.”
“They’re my kids. I’m Momma Pam,” she said. “I’m Momma Pam to all my dispatchers. I’m Momma Pam to a lot of my EMS and my deputies and my firefighters. They all call me Momma Pam.
“It’s an honor. It’s such an honor to be Momma Pam.”
In her retirement, Skinner said she plans to take care of her mother, help her sister-in-law and spend time with her grandchildren. However, she said dispatching “gets in your blood,” and she is hoping to be able to come back to the dispatch center part-time next year.
Newton County first responders are fantastic people, Skinner said, and leaving them will be hard. She said she is especially grateful to Gary Galloway, who gave her a shot at being dispatch supervisor during his time as E911 Director, current E911 Director Brian Taylor and all the dispatchers, EMS, police officers and firefighters who work to keep Newton County safe.
“They mean so much to me,” she said. “They’ve helped me through some of the hardest times of my life. My children and my grandchildren are my heart, but these are my heart too. They’re my family. They’re my kids.
“It’s just been an honor to have been with all these people throughout the years, and I’m going to miss it.”
Taylor said he wanted to personally thank Skinner for the support and guidance she’s given him over the two years he has served as E911 director for the county. He said she helped show him the ropes and supported him in his role.
“I’ll miss her for all the things she taught me and for always having my back,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure.”
Skinner gave almost 19 years to the service of others, Taylor said. The first responders of Newton County will never forget Momma Pam.
