Who is Dr. Heidi? Dr. Heidi Feldman is a college professor with over 15 years of experience in improving communication between 9-1-1 professionals and the citizens they serve. Her journey began when she was invited to help a university police department improve their call center's caller management. Since then, she’s partnered with agencies ranging from State Police to Regional Centers to analyze 911 calls and develop specialized communication training for call takers. As a TedX speaker and publish author, her research focuses on low frequency, high impact calls such as mental and behavioral health, emergency medical calls, and radio dispatch. Dr Heidi is an award winning teacher, internationally recognized scholar, and advocate for public safety professionals.

What is her background? When she started working with state police, Dr. Heidi spent extensive time shadowing dispatchers to fully understand their daily challenges. She now holds APCO certifications as a Telecommunicator, Emergency Medical Dispatcher, and Crisis Negotiator, which supports her ongoing work to improve communication in 9-1-1 centers.

What does she analyze? Dr. Heidi is a conversation analyst, which is a method that examines how communication works in real-time interactions. She studies 9-1-1 calls to identify specific patterns in conversations that can either help or hinder the flow of assistance. This approach highlights moments in calls that may delay emergency responses, where my results work in helping both call takers and citizens.

How does this help? She works closely with quality assurance teams and dispatch supervisors to improve the entire communication process from call pickup to dispatch. Together, they design workshops, seminars, and policy updates that enhance caller management and telecommunicator performance. By identifying best practices in dispatcher communication, Dr. Heidi helps agencies build evidence-based training and quality assurance programs that lead to better outcomes for everyone involved.

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