Alan Pope wore many uniforms during his 27 years of service to Catawba County.

Pope rushed people to the hospital as an EMT, protected homes from burning as a volunteer firefighter and worn the gun and badge of a Catawba County Sheriff’s deputy. He has even worked as an emergency dispatcher — all through the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department.

“I wore a lot of hats in the Sheriff’s Department, thanks to the Sheriff,” he said.

On Feb. 1, Pope retired his many hats, as the Catawba County Board of Commissioners gave him his .40 Glock and his badge. He hadn’t planned on retiring at 51, but he decided it was time to take care of himself as he battles heart disease and back pain and has been unable to work since March of 2007.

Pope said his career started with EMS and grew from there into other county jobs.

“I always wanted to grow up and be in the hospital setting somewhere,” Pope said.

As a student at St. Stephens High School in the early 1970s, he enrolled in a course called Health Occupations, where he learned about the various jobs in the healthcare field.

The day after he turned 18, on July 10, 1974, Pope signed on as an EMT for Catawba County.

“It was a real rush,” he said. “I loved helping people.”

In the late 70s, he added volunteer firefighter to his resume as he worked at the Fairbrook Volunteer Fire Department for a few years.

And in 1981, he traded his fireman’s helmet for a sheriff’s deputy badge and began working in dispatch answering emergency 911 calls and sending police, firefighters, EMS responders as needed.

“It was always a challenge, you didn’t know what you’d get into when you answered the phone,” Pope said.

He said the stress made it hard because it would go “from low to high in just seconds” when he answered calls from people that were frantic or in distress.

But Pope said the job had its rewards — saving lives. He remembers saving two adults from chocking to death by instructing family members in the Heimlich maneuver and he almost had to coach the delivery of a baby.

Pope started working at Newton-Conover Rescue Squad in 1985 on days he wasn’t working dispatch. He stayed there until 2000.

Meanwhile, at the Sheriff’s Department, he was promoted to communication administrator in 1991 and took on the role of records supervisor in 1995. In 2000, he became communication director, in charge of dispatch.

Pope oversaw the implementation of two state programs including the carry concealed permitting and sex offender registry.  Carry concealed is a program that allows citizens to gain permission to carry a concealed weapon after completing training. The sex offender registry is a program that requires sex offenders to register their address and contact information with their county Sheriff’s Department.

Pope said he feels a “sense of pride and well being for the citizens of the county” and will miss being able to serve the community the way he is accustom to.

“It’s like losing a family member,” Pope said. “It really is.”

Now, Pope plans to focus on his health as he fishes off Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks and travel with his wife Debra to Hawaii.