Lower Austria dispatcher named Europe’s dispatcher of the year

Claudia Obermaier, an emergency call dispatcher from Lower Austria, has been named Europe’s dispatcher of the year. ORF reports that she received the award at the annual Euro Navigator meeting in Amsterdam.

Obermaier, 41, works for Notruf Niederösterreich, the state’s emergency call service, from its Zwettl centre and from home. She is among the voices callers may hear when they dial 144. The award jury praised her ability to guide people through emergency calls with calm, clarity and confidence, even in highly distressing situations.

“I’ve been doing this for 21 years, and I think I can help callers get past their panic threshold,” Obermaier said. She said she was pleased to be nominated and overwhelmed when she was announced as the winner.

She began her career as a retail apprentice at a car dealership and became involved in emergency calls after joining the Samaritan Association. She has worked for Notruf Niederösterreich since 2005. After moving to Tyrol in 2014, she joined the Innsbruck emergency call centre. From 2017, she dispatched calls for the Lower Austrian service from home in Tyrol, an arrangement that provided experience for remote working during the pandemic three years later.

Obermaier has since returned to Arbesbach in the Zwettl district, where she lives with her six-year-old son as a single mother. She also sometimes works for the Samaritan Association and the water rescue service at the outdoor pool in Groß Gerungs. Cycling and running help her unwind after demanding shifts, which can last 10 hours.

In the past six years, the European award has gone to staff from Notruf Niederösterreich four times, including the last three years in a row.