Joanne MacNeil has been on the job for 24 years, and she still loves it
A huge honour for a Niagara EMS dispatcher.
Joanne MacNeil has been awarded the Emergency Medical Services Exemplary Service Medal, along with about 10 other people province wide.
She says while there are definitely challenges to the job, there are rewards. "When you can assist in a child birth, and as soon as you hear that baby crying, we're relieved, as that's a call you never want to go wrong. Or, you're doing CPR, with a family of someone that's stopped breathing, and you get that person breathing."
She's also mentored colleagues and developed training programs.
After 24 years on the job, she still loves doing it. "We've seen a lot of people with our training. They get through it, and then they realize, when you're on with live callers, out of the training environment, that it's just not for them. It takes someone that can remain calm."
She gives a lot of credit to her coworkers at Niagara EMS.
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