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North Idaho 911 dispatcher wins international award for her service

"I just crashed into the lake ... Water is coming into my car."

COEUR D'ALENE — North Idaho 911 dispatcher Talina Moyer was awarded the Call of the Week by an international organization, which recognizes emergency dispatchers throughout the world for their exemplary use of good customer service and of following protocol to help avert disaster.

"911, what is the address of your emergency? I just crashed into the lake. I'm in Harrison?”

A woman was driving along highway 97 near Gotham Bay on Aug. 27 when it happened. Her car ended up in the lake. Thanks to a calm dispatcher who remembered her training everything ended up okay.

"Are you able to get out? I don't know. If I open the door, the water is all going to rush in!”

The 911 call shows how frightened the driver was.

"Water is coming into my car."

"Oh God. I'm sending help. Stay on the line, I'll tell you what to do next."

"When I got the call, it was very...It was surprising. It was not the call that I was expecting, for sure,” Talina Moyer said.

Talina Moyer, a 12 year veteran dispatcher in Coeur d'Alene was the one taking the call.

On the other end of the line was a 63 year-old woman.

She had become drowsy, and had crashed her Subaru Outback into the water.

"You have to remember that you're there for the person that needs help,” Moyer said

Moyer started telling the driver what to do.

As the car continued to fill with water, Moyer instructed the woman to get out through a rear window, exactly what you're supposed to do when a car sinks.

"Roll that window all the way down."

"Get out of the vehicle now and swim to the nearest shore...I'm trying. I'm trying... You're doing great. Oh God."

Moyer had remembered her training, and an example of a similar call that she had heard during class.

"I didn't realize how much that call had stuck with me. Until I started talking to her. And I immediately went to my instructions to tell her to get out,” Moyer recalled.

Moyer stuck with the caller as she started to head to shore.

It appears as if you can hear her swimming on the other end of the line.

"Are you still there?...I'm still here. Are you able to get to the shore?....I'm close to it."

Response crews would eventually get to that driver.

Moyer’s efforts in saving the driver's life have since been honored by an international organization that trains and sets standards for dispatchers.

Its helping out someone in need that's the real reward for Moyer.

"You get that one call, just like hers. And it reminds me that I like what I do and I love what I do, and it does keep me coming back,” Moyer said.

If you're in trouble in North Idaho and need to dial 911, it's a good thing that Moyer may be on the other end of the line.

Just take this driver's word for it.

"What is your name? Talina. Talina? Thank you for helping me. You're Welcome."

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