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Public Safety Begins with Calls to Telecommunicators
National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, April 9-15
“911. What is your emergency?”
It’s a question you never want to answer but the five words you most want to hear when you make a call in a crisis. The voice at the other end of the line belongs to a telecommunicator, the first point contact in an emergency. These “unseen heroes” receive and relay the essential information necessary to ensure the best, most timely and safe response to an urgent situation.
Every year, during the second week of April, telecommunications personnel are honoured for the important role they play in saving lives every day. To celebrate their extraordinary service, we invited the hardworking members of one of our Emergency Medical Dispatch teams to share why they dedicate their lives to public safety.
"I became a telecommunicator to make a difference every day. The most gratifying part of my job is getting the right help to the right location through deployment; getting someone to do something they were hesitant to do or didn't think they could like CPR, crowd control or delivering a baby; and, of course, having that irate caller sincerely say, ‘thank you’ at the end."
Pamela Bueckert
Emergency Medical Dispatch
Medavie Health Services West - Saskatoon
"As a critical care transportation dispatcher, there is no such thing as a regular day. Every time you put on the uniform is another opportunity for you to make a difference in someone’s life."
Luc Richard
Ambulance New Brunswick
"… we do our best, knowing that sometimes mental and emotional support is just as important as the medical and physical support provided by medical personnel. This is where our strength and resilience shines and, ultimately, why we chose a career in this profession. I cannot think of a more fulfilling job and I am extremely proud to work in Emergency Services."
Chantel Nast
Emergency Medical Dispatch
Medavie Health Services West - Saskatoon
"If someone was having a heart attack or stroke or a cardiac arrest, and weeks later you get to see them transferred back home, it’s great to see that care coming to a close. So you know that you were their first step and you were a part in that cycle."
Dylan Sutherland
EHS Medical Communications Centre
Nova Scotia
“Is every day in this profession perfect? Of course not. It has its downfalls and challenges like anything else, but it is this amazing, heartbreaking, challenging, rewarding, crazy profession that I am very proud of.”
Ashley Hamerston
Emergency Medical Dispatch
Medavie Health Services West - Saskatoon
"It’s rewarding knowing that you’re making a difference, that you’re helping people. That you’re getting people the help they need, either through a nurse or through a COVID test."
Matthew Smith
811 Telecare
Nova Scotia
"I love working alongside all of my coworkers with Medacom, RCMP, and both municipal police forces here on the island. It is such a rewarding feeling at the end of each shift knowing the work we do as a team can be life changing."
Cody Hambly
Medacom Atlantic
Prince Edward Island
Medavie Health Service is a national leader in primary health care solutions and the largest contracted provider of emergency management services in Canada. Our combined team of thousands of professionals is on the front lines of health care delivery in six provinces, managing emergency communications, ground and air ambulance and other health services for over 2.4 million Canadians.
We take this opportunity to honour and thank the telecommunicators on our teams, from Atlantic to western Canada, for answering the call to public safety. We appreciate your commitment to a demanding profession and the sacrifices you make to create healthier, safer communities for Canadians.
Check out this out this Global News Medic Moment featuring our own Chantel Nast on her role as an emergency medical dispatcher and a behind-the-scenes look at our Saskatoon communications centre.
Interested in an exciting, rewarding and challenging career as a telecommunicator? Explore our career opportunities in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Filed under What We Do Medavie Health Services
