APCO 2024: Opening General Session

By Rick Goldstein

Hundreds gathered in the Orange County Convention Center Valencia Ballroom for the Opening General Session of the Annual Conference & Expo, APCO 2024 in Orlando, Florida, on Monday. They heard about the strength of public safety communications and how one of America's top astronauts learned that the sky's not the limit when he focused on steady improvement to reach his goals.

APCO CEO and Executive Director Mel Maier touted the many ways APCO serves the 9-1-1 industry, including by providing education and leadership programs, innovative technologies in partnership with industry and APCO's "revolutionary IntelliComm^® platform." Maier noted APCO's new membership category for students and educators, and the association's responsibility for frequency coordination.

"But maybe the most important thing APCO does is bring its members and every part of our industry together. I'm so moved by the fellowship I see and feel between members," Maier said. "We have 10 professional development tracks, over 120 individual sessions focused on frontline telecommunicators, leadership development, comm center management, technology and much more."

APCO President Becky Neugent followed Maier to the stage and explained initiatives the association is pursuing to address wellness and staffing.

"In February, APCO held the first ever 9-1-1 Wellness Summit to tackle the mental health crisis growing among the 9-1-1 community and explore how the trauma experienced in the workplace can spill over into our personal lives," Neugent said.

Neugent noted that the association sponsored the first 9-1-1 Staffing Crisis Summit and plans a follow-up event in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 22.

Neugent also described completion of renovations to APCO's Daytona, Florida, headquarters. "These improvements have provided a state-of-the-art facility that supports the organization's operations and serves as a hub for innovation and collaboration," she said.

The association recognized the 2024 Emergency Communications Center and Technology Leadership Award winners during the general session. They are:

• Director of the Year: Andrew Dameron, Denver 9-1-1, Denver, Colorado
• Information Technologist: Stephen Stetson, Dare County Sheriff's Office, Manteo, North Carolina
• Line Supervisor: Libby Howland, Eaton County 911, Charlotte, Michigan
• RF Technologist: Chuck Kuhler, Fauquier County Sheriff's Office, Warrenton, Virginia
• Telecommunicator: Beth Gunn, Jeffcom 911, Lakewood, Colorado
• Trainer: Drew Tetrick, Kitsap 911, Bremerton, Washington
• Team: Valley Communications Center, Kent, Washington
• Large Technology Leadership: City of Hemet Police & Fire ECC, Hemet, California
• Small Technology Leadership: NEOM Command and Control Center, Saudi Arabia

After the award presentations, Scott Agnew, vice president for the FirstNet Program at AT&T and public sector mobility, introduced Scott Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot who became the first American to spend nearly a year continuously in space aboard the International Space Station.

Scientists used his twin brother Mark Kelly, also a former astronaut and now the U.S. Senator from Arizona, as a genetic control to establish the effects of long-term spaceflight on the body.

These observations included biomolecular health improvements as structures called telomeres grew longer compared to his earthbound brother. The result was a surprise to scientists because people in space are exposed to more radiation than on Earth, which would imply bad health outcomes for astronauts (the telomere result was backed up by an experiment with worms in space).

The idea that a middle-aged Scott Kelly would be involved in space experiments would have astounded the young Scott Kelly, who graduated at the bottom half of his high school class and didn't do any better in college.

"Never in a million years did I think I could be an astronaut or anything like that, because I was such a poor (academic) performer," Kelly said.

As he was marking time in college he came across the book, "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe, about the first American test pilots and astronauts. Kelly said he recognized his own character traits in the astronauts he read about. If he could just change one thing about himself, Kelly recalled thinking, he too could become an astronaut. So he started with "smaller manageable steps" to become a better student.

Five years later, Kelly graduated with an engineering degree and was on his way to flight school in Florida where he found … he wasn't a very good pilot. But Kelly also noticed that people who are good at something from the start aren't necessarily better at it by the end. Unlike the best flight school students in his class, Kelly wound up piloting two missions of the Space Shuttle.

Overcoming obstacles means "you can never be comfortable with how things are. You have to be continuing to improve," Kelly said. "What I learned is that the sky is not the limit."

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