MD Communications is a state of the art Communications Center, employing 22 certified Emergency Medical Dispatchers, all of whom are also certified Emergency Fire Dispatchers. We are proud to be recognized as a Center of Excellence by the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch, an honor we have held since 2000, a total of 4 consecutive Accreditations. Maintaining this level of certification requires strict compliance to the highest standards of accuracy and efficiency. We are the only Accredited Center of Excellence in Saskatchewan, and the fourth Center in Canada to attain this achievement.
Our Telecommunicators are dedicated to the highest level of customer service. Our center upholds a zero minute response time by providing immediate assistance at the emergency scene, instructing the caller over the phone with CPR, choking, childbirth, bleeding control, and other trauma or medical situations. We are the First-“First Responders”. We gather location and patient information. Ours is a non-visual environment, so we need to develop skills for handling emotionally upset or hysterical callers. We must instantly teach untrained people what to do, in the heat of the moment, while doing a non-visual scene and patient assessment. Scenes can be chaotic or dangerous and we are responsible for communicating all vital information to responding crews.
At M.D. Communications, we process and Dispatch Medical Emergency and Inter-Hospital Transfer calls for 38 Ambulance companies, including Saskatoon, Lloydminster and North Battleford, 22 Rural Fire Departments, 150 Rural First Responder Groups, Saskatchewan Air Ambulance, and Corman Park Police Service (after hours).
We are staffed with 5-6 people during weekdays, and 4-5 on weekends and nights. Shifts are 12 hours, starting at 06:30 and 18:30. We also do extra duties such as Data Entry, (entering and invoicing trip sheets), quality assurance and we do fundraising and charity work. We have many different roles and have many protocols and policies. Everything we do and say is tracked. All phones lines and radios are digitally recorded and exact times are recorded automatically or by the computer-aided dispatch program.
