Lifelines: a look at the job of a telecommunicator

“When you have a child for example that is not conscious, not breathing, you go home pretty tired. It’s pretty draining,” she said.

The week of April 10–16 is National Public Safety Telecommunications week. Last week alone the staff at the Prince Albert communications centre responded to 1,124 incidents. For all of 2021, there were 48,261 calls, which was an increase of over 8,000 from 2020.

Chantelle Jantz has been on the job 10 years in Prince Albert. She said at the end of the day, it feels good helping people in their times of need. When asked about a specific memorable call, Janz recalled one from her second day on the job when she joined the famed “stork club” and assisted with a baby delivery.

“It was on the side of the road, on the highway, and they were excited and I helped the father through instructions on how to deliver. Everything went good,” she said.

Every member of the team aspires to join the Stork Club. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

The communications centre in Prince Albert is one of three medical communications centres in the province, and covers a wide geographical area including Big River, La Ronge, Pelican Narrow, Nipawin, and Melfort. Essentially, when someone calls 911, the dispatcher who takes that call will then, if it’s medical related, transfer it to one of the three communications centres

Lyle Karasiuk, Director of Public Affairs with Parkland Ambulance, acknowledged that people do get frustrated when being asked to provide their address not once, but twice.

“We understand that you are panicked because someone has fallen. You are excited because of some medical need but understand as soon as we, here in the medical communications centre, have your address, help is being sent,” he said.

Noting the challenges that may arise from a rural related call, Karasiuk said it’s very important the caller provide as much information as possible. And he said families with young children can also do preparation.

“We encourage families out in the rural area to go and grab a piece of paper, put it on the fridge that has the name of the person of whose place it is, the phone number and the legal land location. We’ll take care of the rest,” he said.

With respect to providing directions, Karasiuk encouraged people to use landmarks such as schools or churches, as opposed to describing a yellow house at the corner, as that can be impacted directly if it’s dark outside. And with respect to calls with the urban area, Karasiuk noted it can be challenge when someone calls in and said they saw someone lying in the street, but failed to stay at the scene.

“When we try to figure out what do we need to send, and with increasing call volumes it means we are prioritizing calls and we need to get those calls that are the most serious first,” he said.

Karasiuk also noted that there’s three staff members on duty at a time, and it’s not uncommon for 10 calls to be coming in. He encouraged callers to stay on the phone, as the person taking the call will never say goodbye.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

by Nigel Maxwell

Lifelines: a look at the job of a telecommunicator

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