Rhodes Jumping In To E-911/EMA Head Post

Stephens County’s new E-911 and Emergency Management Agency Director is settling in to her new position.

Danielle Rhodes started on the job Monday.

Rhodes said her first day was a busy one, meeting with people and getting acclimated with the E-911 center and the employees.

She said that her first impression was a good one.

“Everybody has been really friendly and welcoming, which is nice,” said Rhodes. “It is always nice to feel coming into a place where you are not real familiar with the area and people that everybody has just been real welcoming. I have heard very good things about the employees in the 911 Center, which is always a positive thing.”

Rhodes comes to Stephens County from the Atlanta area.

In her last position, Rhodes was most recently the Communications Training Officer at Fayette County E911 Communications from April 2014 to March 2016.

In that role, Rhodes said she was responsible for classroom instruction and one-on-one training, as well as applying policies and procedures in the office.

She said she is excited to step up into her new role in Stephens County.

“I found it by accident, believe it or not,” said Rhodes. “I was looking to further and advance my career and I had been looking for a while and I would check certain sites every day for different positions and I found this one on a random site somewhere that I never went to. It was the first time I went to it. I saw it there and sent in my resume.”

While she is just getting started, Rhodes said one of her long-term goals in the position is to implement something called EMD technology in the Stephens County E-911 Center.

“EMD stands for Emergency Medical Dispatch, where the dispatchers are able to give medical direction to the person calling for life-saving measures, CPR, choking, pregnancy, and bleeding control,” said Rhodes. “It is something I have used since I started and it works. I have saved lives. I delivered a baby one time. I have done choking. I know that it is effective. It will give them more sense of purpose to be able to help those on the other line while we are getting them ambulance and fire and all that.”

Stephens County Commissioners approved the hiring of Rhodes last month, pending a 14-day public notice period that ran through last week.

Rhodes was the sole finalist for the position.