Medical Communication Center

MedComm is a 24-hour, seven day a week medical communications dispatch center based at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center. The center is staffed by trained communications specialists who are certified in Emergency Medical Dispatch. It serves as a vital link that connects the region to trauma and transport services as well as specialist physicians at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center. MedComm serves as 9-1-1 back-up for Winnebago County, Boone County and the North Park Fire Department. It also serves as the communications center for the 10-county Northern Illinois Emergency Medical Services. 

=Images= | MedComm

 
 

MedComm Comes Out of Hiding

We’ve all heard of hidden treasures and according to Maggie Carlson there is one hiding in a little room down a remote hall in the Emergency Department. Carlson, manager of ambulance services, is responsible for the Medical Communications Department and says, “Many employees do not realize that the department exists, let alone what they do.”

The fact is that the 15 employees who alternate between three shifts do quite a bit while locked away in their crowded space. Coordinating communications between hospitals and emergency responders falls into the capable hands of Med Com, as does a variety of other tasks.

At any given moment, the two MedComm workers on duty are dispatching for OSF Lifeline Ambulance and Helicopter, North Park Fire Department and Star Ambulance in Freeport. Surrounded by computer screens and telephones, they may also be coordinating a phone call between an ER doctor at an outlying hospital and an OSF trauma doctor. At the same time they are giving travel directions to an ambulance driver and pre-arrival directions through a 911 center.

Other tasks that fall into their scope of responsibility include flight following, air and ground scheduling, diversion, dispatching for security, operating the ambulance bay doors and relaying weather data.

“In 2007, MedComm dispatched for more than 10,000 calls for Lifeline Ambulance alone,” Carlson says. Staff members estimate they handle 30 to 40 calls each shift. Obviously, the job of communications specialist is not for everyone. The ideal candidate is an energetic person who performs well under pressure. Amy Wolber is one of those people. After working as a paramedic for OSF Lifeline Ambulance for 12 years, Wolber needed to make a change.

“Although I loved what I was doing, my children’s schedules got crazy and I needed a different job,” Wolber says. “I’m happy I’m in the same field. Now I’m just at the beginning of the chain.”

Wolber explains that while everything may be chaotic in the MedComm office, everything looks smooth and seamless to everyone outside. “It’s a lot harder than people realize,” she says. After six years with MedComm, she is convinced that “It’s a lot harder at this end.”

Russell Ferling, who has spent seven years at OSF as a communications specialist agrees that days can be crazy and says their success depends on the good relationships they make. But crazy aside, Ferling can’t imagine doing anything else. “I love coming to work,” he says.

And Carlson couldn’t be more proud. “Patient care begins when they receive the call and they do a wonderful job,” she says. “They are very dedicated.”