April 16, 2021

Emergency call dispatcher Pierre-Luc Caron helped a woman give birth…

“I calmed her down, her husband saw the baby’s head and the little girl came out.”

Pierre-Luc Caron wanted to help in the middle of the pandemic last fall. With a degree in kinesiology, he wanted to do something different when the CFL announced the cancellation of the season. Some of his friends, who are police officers, told him that the “Centre de communication santé Laurentides Lanaudières (CCSLL) was looking for emergency call dispatchers and the Alouettes long snapper specialist “answered to the call”.

“I’m a pretty quiet person even in a situation of emergency, so I knew that I would do well in that type of environment, and I love to feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins,” says the 27-year-old athlete.

A few months ago, he experienced a situation he’ll never forget.  It’s around 3:00 a.m. and he’s on duty when the phone rings. A pregnant woman is on the phone with her husband, both are in a state of panic. The baby is in a hurry to get out and Caron must reassure the couple, who feel completely helpless as they wait for the first responders to arrive.

The couple didn’t listen to my instructions because they were so stressed. I had to calm them down and make them understand that it was imperative that they listen my directives. The woman was screaming, I calmed her down, she was breathing more regularly, her husband saw the baby’s head and the little girl came out,” he explains with great emotion in his voice. “The husband went to get blankets to warm the mother and baby and we waited for the paramedics to cut the cord.”

Looking back, Caron is pleased with the advice he gave the new parents. “I believe that I played a role in the birth of this child, I reassured the mother and I never let her go. The cord was placed correctly, and everything went smoothly before the paramedics arrived. We are trained for these kinds of emergencies so I knew how to react quickly and in the right way.”

Unfortunately, not all calls end in joy. The new Alouettes long snapper often has to manage heart attacks from a distance. He regularly has to talk people through cardiac massages while hearing people are crying and in pain. In the winter, he had several cases of snowmobile accidents. Caron must keep his composure and comfort patients in difficult times when their lives are hanging by a thread.

“I have a lot of fun in this job. I know I bring comfort and my employer has been very accommodating with me. The CCSLL gave me the flexibility to be able to combine work and football training, I owe them a lot. I’ll probably have to give them a couple of pairs of tickets for the next season,” Caron laughs.