The combination of a skilled dispatcher with the right tools at the right moment, is what saved three lives.
"She used every single tool in her toolbox and Prepared made all the difference. With the live video, she was able to see the conditions on the boat in real time and relay that picture to responding units."
— James Matthews, Public Information Officer, Nashville DEC
On Tuesday, July 21st, around 9 PM, the Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications — the PSAP responsible for processing every 911 call across Nashville and Davidson County — was in the middle of a severe weather event. There was an apartment fire, multiple shootings, and several other sinking vehicle incidents all active at the same time.
That's when a 911 call came in from Percy Priest Lake. Three people were on a paddle boat with no motor, taking on water in the dark during a storm, disoriented and unsure of exactly where they were.
The call landed with Courtney Bell, an operations supervisor at Nashville DEC. Supervisors don't typically answer 911 calls, but that night she did, and she brought every bit of her experience to bear from the first moment.
The Call
Water rescues on Percy Priest Lake aren't new for Nashville DEC. The center has had plans and processes in place for years. What added layers of complication to this call was a combination of factors: deteriorating weather conditions, a non-motorized vessel, and a caller who didn't speak English as their first language.
An interpreter was brought in, but as the call unfolded Courtney noticed that what was being translated didn't match what was actually being said.
She was able to catch that because Prepared automatically transcribes the conversation while simultaneously translating it into English. Reading the live transcript, she identified that someone else on the boat spoke English and pivoted immediately to that caller.
Every second she saved in those first minutes mattered.
The Response
With the English-speaking caller now on the line, Courtney sent a Prepared live video link to their device. As soon as he accepted it, she could see exactly what they were dealing with: the conditions on the water, the state of the vessel, and the water beginning to fill the boat.
She used What3Words to pinpoint their precise location and relay it to responders attempting to find them in the dark on a lake with no landmarks to reference.
Then she thought of something else. She asked the caller if he had an iPhone and told him to open the compass app.
"I wouldn't have thought of that myself," said James Matthews, Public Information Officer at Nashville DEC. "And I consider myself very innovative."
With eyes on the boat and a precise location confirmed, Courtney could see the water rising in real time. She directed the callers to split duties — two people paddle, one person bails — and stayed with them while updating responders on conditions and managing the call alongside everything else the center was handling that night.
All three made it home.
What Made the Difference
James is clear that Prepared helped Courtney augment her experience and instincts.
"As a dispatcher, as a field responder, you look at things differently. You may notice something the caller may not notice because they're in their own crisis. Having eyes on it, we can see and interpret it with our own eyes and provide a better picture to the responders, more discreetly, without startling the caller or making it worse."
The transcript caught the inconsistencies before they cost time. The video gave her information she couldn't have had otherwise. The precise location got responders to the right place. All of it made Courtney better at the job she was already doing.
What It Means for the Rest of the Team
Nashville DEC doesn't mandate how its telecommunicators use their tools. The philosophy, as Michael Bateman, Systems Advisor II, describes it, is to put tools in the toolbox and let trained professionals find the value themselves.
"Several people within the department shared this story on their own personal social media, and a lot of people keep their work and professional life separate. They were proud of their partner and their leader. The next time they have a situation where they want better situational awareness, this story may inspire them to do something they wouldn't normally do."
What the Percy Priest Lake rescue shows is that technology only goes as far as the person using it. Courtney's experience, instincts, and judgment told her exactly how to manage the call and direct three panicked people on a sinking boat. Prepared gave her the clarity to act on all of it faster and with more precision than she could have otherwise. That combination, a skilled dispatcher with the right tools at the right moment, is what saved three lives.
"Prepared showed up and showed out. It wound up saving lives, which is what we want to see ultimately."
— Michael Bateman, Systems Advisor II, Nashville DEC
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