For the second time this year, the Parkland Ambulance medical communications team is being honored with an award.
In May, alongside the communications team at the RCMP and Provincial Communications, they received the Sask911 Teamwork award. In November, they were recognized with the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Canada Teamwork Award for their response to the mass stabbing on James Smith Cree Nation in September 2022.
Lyle Karasiuk, the director of logistics and public affairs for Parkland Ambulance says the communications team on the phone often doesn’t get recognized by the public.
“They’re voices on the phone, but they do an incredible job. Not only do they first take that medical call and start to help the caller, help someone, but they’re also coordinating a whole lot of resources. People won’t realize the work that really goes into an emergency call, for example. It’s not as simple as just you dialing 911 and the folks transferring you to our Medical Communication Center, if that’s where it ends up. They have to triage that call, and they’re not just answering often one call at a time.”
Parkland Ambulance communicators Brooklyn Deichert, Chantel Jantz, Jessica Masserey, and Natasha Cameron made the trip to Calgary to accept the award on behalf of the Parkland communications team.
Karasiuk said the team deserves the accolades for their work year round.
“This event highlights the tragedy that happened out on the James Smith Reserve, but it illustrates the vastness of our Medical Communication Center. Our team could be dealing with a medical issue here in the city of Prince Albert, and not just one at a time, and then having to deal with something that’s happening in Melfort, to something that’s happening in Spiritwood.”
Karasiuk adds the work the communications team does is invaluable.
“For them to be recognized for their hard work is really something quite incredible because they’re really our unsung heroes behind the scenes. We often see our paramedics at the side of a road of a motor vehicle collision, or our paramedics are helping someone in distress medically, or they’re out delivering a baby. Our telecommunication staff, really to the public, are the invisible people.”
The Team Award was one of four honours handed out at the APCO Canada Conference and Trade Show in Calgary. The awards also recognized the Telecommunicator of the Year, the Trainer of the Year, and the Technologist of the Year.
