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Dispatchers recognized for saving man’s life

Apr 29, 2015 | 6:48 AM

Three women are being recognized for their dedicated work which led to a man’s life being saved when he had a heart attack.

Operations manager for communications for Parkland Ambulance Brenda Dutchak was the one to nominate Jill Stefanick, Dakota Marino and Betty Lussier. The three were awarded with the Sask911 Excellence in Team Work provincial award.

“The girls did everything in their power to get to this gentleman,” said Dutchak. “The girls went extra lengths to find him.”

On Dec. 6 a man called 911 and stated he was suffering from a heart attack, but promptly hung up before giving direct details to his residence.

The three women worked with RCMP, SaskTel, Shaw and the Reeve of Blaine Lake to try and track down the man through his phone.

“We went right from calling the reeve of that area, we had the owner of the ambulance company on the line, we had Sasktel on the line we called Shaw Cable, we did everything to find this gentleman,” said Dutchak. “Which we did and in good time, it wasn’t an hour or anything it was in good time.”

Dutchak said that she feels it’s important to recognize these women, who, despite not having a direct hand in saving lives, still play a major role.

“These girls are the unsung heroes, nobody ever sees them, nobody knows what they look like, nobody knows what they go through on a day-to-day basis,” said Dutchak. “We always see the medics on the street which is great, but in here nobody sees what we do, so I think it’s time they get recognized for that.”

Marino said she rarely sees the recognition for the work she and her teammates do behind the scenes.

“It’s nice to be recognized for what we do, because it’s not very often that it happens,” said Marino. “It’s a provincial award, and to be recognized through Parkland and how we work so hard to try to get help to everybody who phones.”

Lussier remembers the stress from that day and how the three worked together to calmly get the details they needed to save the man’s life.

“It was very stressful but we kept it cool and calm. There were a lot of calls going on that night as well,” said Lussier. “But we just came together and threw out different ideas and it all came together in the end for this result.”

She added that it’s a privilege to be recognized for the work they would do for anyone in need.

Stefanick, who is a supervisor for the communications department and was the third member of the team that helped save the man said putting this much effort in to save a life never comes with a second thought.

“It’s a job we do every day,” said Stefanick. “To be recognized for that, not only through our company but on the provincial level is very rewarding.”

She said the best part is working with the people on her team.

“With great co-workers like this, it makes it even better.”

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim