"Once infected with the Air Zermatt virus, you can't get away so quickly"
Carmen Lauber has been employed by Air Zermatt for 20 years. As one of the company's oldest employees, she has witnessed various eras of development, but also a lot of change in personnel.
"Air Zermatt, Carmen" - that's how it rang through the receiver for almost two decades when the phone rang in the dispatch office. Carmen was on the front line - at the beginning in 2003 as a newcomer, later as the head of dispatch in Zermatt. Radioing, phoning, coordinating transport and sightseeing flights as well as emergencies and one thing above all; never losing the overview. That's what the native of Zermatt has learned over the past twenty years and put her heart and soul into it.
"On my first day at work, it was 'here's the printer, here's the phone, here's the fax. See you later.' It was jumping in at the deep end; I had no idea about working with computers." Once settled in, the dispatch office-team formed a team for Carmen that was instrumental in her work, "We had days when everything blew up in our faces. But we worked in a constellation where we reached out to each other and everyone knew what to do."
In the evening, they were always tired as hell, but with a satisfying feeling of having put in a full effort.
Stress has never been a problem for Carmen: "I don't go crazy right away when things get tough. That wouldn't be helpful in this job either. The best example of this was when Zermatt was cut off from the outside world a few years ago due to heavy snowfalls and we had to form an air bridge with the helicopters. People literally went crazy and everyone wanted their flight out of the Valley. In this chaos, we stood in the dispatch office day and night. But it bonded us together and will always be remembered."
Team meeting at the lunch table.
A lot has changed in the last twenty years. Carmen has since left the dispatch office and now works in Settlement Rescues. "About two years ago, this change presented itself. I appreciate that things are a bit quieter now and I am more flexible. However, I sometimes miss the hustle and bustle of the dispatch," she laughs.
The Zermatt dispatch office-team has been reorganized, with three men and four women now working at the heart of the Heliport Zermatt. For Carmen, it's nice to see how the team is forming a new and mastering the daily challenges together.
Less on the ball, but with a sure instinct
In the past, Carmen took the emergencies over the phone, but today she is responsible for closing them. She checks and sends the invoices, is in contact with the insurance companies as well as the Cantonal Valais Rescue Organization and the hospitals. The protocol of every accident lands on her desk:
"Empathy is even more important in this department than in the job before. In exceptional cases, we contact the injured, but often also the bereaved families and relatives. In such a difficult situation, it is important to find the right words, especially when it comes to bureaucratic matters. After all, we don't want to appear tactless when we send out a bill."
"We don't want to appear tactless when we send out a bill."
It is also not uncommon for Carmen to know people personally. She also associates this with the most formative experiences in her career with Air Zermatt: "Giving someone close to you a sad message is always drastic. We can distance ourselves, but accidents will always happen to people we know or are close to personally."
Carmen has been active in the mountains and high alpine since a young age. Working with accident victims and the seriously injured over the years has also triggered something in herself: "I used to be careless, hardly thinking about possible consequences. That changes with all the cases that land on your desk. Today, I'm more careful on the road, especially on my bike."
Some Air Zermatt employees have accompanied Carmen through all this time: "After 20 years, these are relationships where you trust each other blindly." Why she has stayed so long? "I don't know!" laughs the 55-year-old. "Once the Air Zermatt virus has got hold of you, you can't get away so quickly."
Carmen can't count the good memories on one hand either: "There have been dozens of them over the last two decades. The day I was allowed to fly from Zermatt to Paris in a helicopter certainly sticks in my mind."
In addition, the company has given her a lot, a fulfilling job and close friendships, for example: "I don’t know a lot of companies where the relationship is as familiar as it is here. Besides, after twenty years, I'm still proud to be able to say I'm part of Air Zermatt."
In addition to the rigorous daily routine, Air Zermatt enjoys the cozy get-together.
