The Wallaceburg Central Ambulance Communications Centre is celebrating National Telecommunicators Week April 13-17.
The second full week of April every year is designated as National Telecommunicators Week in recognition of the work that emergency dispatchers do every day.
Seldom apparent, their work is critical to the chain of survival.
They are on-duty 24/7, 365 days a year, and because of the nature of their work, do not have the same visibility in the community.
The dispatch environment is filled with technology, policies, and complicated systems that come together to get the right resources, to the right place, at the right time.
Emergency dispatchers have been called the first first-responders.
Behind the dispatchers are an administrative staff that support and assist their work, from payroll, to policy writing, to computer maintenance and upgrades.
Under the direction of the CACC Manager, 30 staff support the operation of the centre.
Operations staff dispatch approximately 40,000 requests for ambulances every year as 911 calls, transfers from hospitals, and requests for assistance from other centres.
CACC staff manage over 18 EMS units in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, and Lambton County, as well as 22 Fire Departments in Lambton County, Walpole Island, and the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point.
Ambulance Communications Officers oversee all aspects of an event, including answering the initial phone call, dispatching ambulances, requesting other agencies to attend like Police, Fire, and Ornge Air Ambulance, and ensuring responders have the support they need.
Please join the staff at 150 Dora Drive in Wallaceburg on Tuesday April 14th between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to find out a bit more about what we do, and to see what an emergency dispatch centre looks like.
