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Being a first responder is often a thankless job.

Sure, we intrinsically understand the importance of firefighters and paramedics, police officers and emergency room workers, dispatchers and drivers who stand ready 24 hours a day to help us when we need it most.

And we appreciate them … even if we don’t often stop to think about all they do for the Miss-Lou community.

But this weekend, we want you to stop and think; to understand; and, hopefully, to appreciate a little bit more the critical role these men and women play in our lives.

We’ve put together a themed edition of The Democrat this weekend, dedicated to telling the stories of the men and women on the front lines. We want you to get to know the E911 dispatchers who answer the call and keep us calm while sending aid. We want to introduce you to the “adrenaline junkies” whose ability to remain calm in crisis allows them to provide critical care and, as one nurse said, use their “two hands like they are four.” We want you to get to know the women who are carving new paths in law enforcement and the young recruits who are stepping up to lead the next generation of public servants.

In truth, we cannot tell all the stories in one edition that we’d like to tell. There are dozens more worth sharing, and we will be doing so on a monthly basis moving forward in our print and digital platforms. Because we believe recognizing first responders and sharing their stories is a necessary link to connecting them to our community.

We hope you enjoy this themed edition.

More importantly, we hope you find a renewed appreciation for our first responders and all they do to keep the Miss-Lou safe.

Theirs should never be a thankless job.