(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Emergency response

‘You never know what you are going to get’: local dispatcher

Apr 15, 2019 | 4:00 PM

This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, and a Prince Albert woman is sharing her experiences being on the other end of the phone.

Raeanne Detillieux has worked as an emergency medical dispatcher (EMD) for six years. She said she can recall the day when she decided she needed to make a career change and took the dispatcher training course offered through Parkland Ambulance. She soon realized the job was something she absolutely wanted to do.

“No two days are the same. Every day you come in and you never know what’s going to happen when that phone rings,” she said.

Detillieux acknowledged her job is high stress and can be very challenging but added the job is also exciting and rewarding. She explained one of the secrets to being a good dispatcher is understanding the emergency is “theirs” and not “yours”.

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“I know a lot of people have a hard time with that. They internalize a lot of what’s being said over the phone, so it’s very important to separate yourself from that and be that person you know for the person who is having the emergency,” she said.

At the end of a shift, Detillieux said she does her best to leave her job at work. She explained not all calls will work out the way you want, but stressed it’s important to hang on to the ones that did and to reassure yourself you did the best job you could. When asked if there were any calls that affected her more than others, Detillieux replied it’s any calls related to children.

“It might just be an allergic reaction or something that’s not really severe but it’s those little kid calls that really affect me,” she said.

On the opposite end of the coin, Detillieux said she has in her six years also received some strange calls. One call she received in her first year involved two young boys who had been playing with an air hose on an air compressor. One of the young boys had put the hose up his brother’s bottom and turned the air on. Fortunately the boy was not seriously hurt.

“That’s just it. You never know what you are going to get and no two calls are going to be the same,” she said

Detillieux said she felt grateful to have “incredible” support all around her. She explained one of the best parts of her job is being able to work with a tight knit group who lean on each other.

“When we have a tough day we will call one of our co-workers because they really understand what we are going through. Whereas if you talk to someone who really doesn’t understand your job, it’s hard for them to understand what you are going through,” she said.

In 2018, Saskatchewan 911 operators took 388,456 calls from around the province.

“They are our first point of contact when reporting a fire, medical emergency or criminal act,” Provincial Government Relations Minister Warren Kaeding said in a statement. “When we are experiencing the worst day of our lives, they are the professionals at the other end of the line to support us and send emergency responders to our location.”

Sask911 is overseen by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. Created in 2017, the agency’s mandate was expanded earlier this year to include the emergency management and fire safety responsibilities from the Ministry of Government Relations and the Wildfire Management Branch from the Ministry of Environment.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell