Karen Greenstein with her family

The public safety community feels a profound loss after learning that longtime dispatcher Karen Greenstein was the victim of a traffic accident early this morning on Interstate 5. Karen served the citizens and user agencies in this county for over 20 years. Karen began her career in 1991 with Southern Oregon Regional Communications, and was most recently employed by Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon (ECSO), the County’s combined emergency dispatch facility and Primary Safety Answering Point. Dispatchers at ECSO answer 9-1-1 calls as well as dispatching for law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies in Jackson County.

Karen was a respected member of the Emergency Services community. She received ECSO’s “Dispatcher of the Year” award in 2011, and was nominated several years in a row for the APCO “International Public Safety Communications Telecommunicator of the Year” award. Karen is remembered as always positive, always smiling and she had an unforgettable laugh. Her voice was confident on the radio to the user agencies she served, and compassionate on the phone with the public she was devoted to helping. Karen had a witty sense of humor that kept days like today manageable for her coworkers. According to her coworkers, Karen truly cared for the agencies she dispatched for, and the coworkers she spent 10-12 hours a day with in the dispatch center.

Margie Moulin, Director of Emergency Communication of Southern Oregon, said that the dispatch center is brokenhearted over this tragedy, “Karen was an extraordinary person and skilled dispatcher who dedicated her life to helping others. This is a great loss for our entire community.” She noted that there has been an outpouring of support from the Emergency Services community around the state.

Oregon State Police is continuing the investigation into this morning’s crash. The Mail Tribune’s story about the crash is here.