By Bryan Eneas

Parkland Ambulance employees recognized for their efforts

Dec 13, 2017 | 7:00 AM

Four members of the Parkland Ambulance team were honoured for their efforts over the last 365 days.

Two paramedics were recognized: JJ Fenez was noted as Rookie of the Year, and Cory Kulcheski won Employee of the Year. Two dispatchers, Betty Lussier and Chantel Jantz shared the Telecommunicator of the Year award.  

“It feels pretty cool to be recognized by your peers,” Fenez said. “We work with an awesome group of people here, so to be recognized by them as someone who does a decent job at work is pretty cool.”

Fenez, who worked in the Big River area before joining the Parkland Ambulance team, said the hardest thing for him to get used to was the sleep schedule. He works in an on-call position with Parkland, which means he doesn’t work scheduled 12-hour shifts.

Kulcheski, who’s worked with Parkland for 10 years, said winning the award was a very special honour. According to a release issued by Parkland Ambulance, the Employee of the Year is someone who “continually strives to better each day and provides the best possible care to every patient.”

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She attributed winning the award to stepping up to fill in when team leaders were away and for the effort she puts into mentoring her teammates.

Fenez and Kulcheski heaped praise on their dispatch counterparts. Both paramedics said their work makes them an invaluable part of the Parkland team.

Both Lussier and Jantz described their days as sporadic.

“You could go four hours with [no calls] and then have 10 lines ringing, it’s so unpredictable,” Lussier said.

Jantz explained she enjoys being a dispatcher because the job changes every day; however, the pair can face stressful days. In order to cope, dispatchers talk amongst themselves as a form of counselling.

“It takes a special person to work in there; it’s not for everybody. We deal with it the way we know to deal with it,” Jantz said.

According to Lyle Karasiuk, a Parkland Ambulance spokesperson, the four awards were selected by their peers.

“We’re so very proud of them,” he said. “Each plays a very significant and pivotal role for our organization.”

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @BryanEneas