SNOHOMISH COUNTY, WA — Dispatcher Tara Larkins hadn’t been married for very long when she answered an emergency call involving a man who wasn’t breathing. The woman on the other end of the line repeatedly told Larkins she wasn’t ready to lose her husband of 50 years.

LEELANAU, MI — Jan McCurties and Jessica Plamandon are helping hands people, but you only get to hear their voices.

ARLINGTON, OH — Below dozens of state-of-the-art monitors in the UA police division’s dispatching center sits an old, ’70s-style push-button telephone. While the screens constantly update computer-generated maps and pass along information to patrol officers, the city’s dispatchers keep a constant eye on the old phone.

WARNER ROBINS, GA — Twelve cubicles are hugged together in a large room just off Carl Vinson Parkway. Each is labeled with a gold nameplate of a public safety agency and houses an operator calmly fielding several emergency dispatches before a collage of computer screens.

VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA — It was a December night three years ago when the phone rang in the radio room after 3 a.m. “I think there’s somebody in the house upstairs,” a terrified man whispered.

OGDEN, UT — It was the worst possible scenario, but Erica Engstrom kept her cool amid the chaos unfolding more than a mile away on a darkened Ogden street.

SEVIERVILLE, TN — Being an emergency dispatcher ranks among the most stressful jobs anywhere.