Emma MacDonald helped a woman deliver her grandchild over the phone on her second shift alone. (submitted/Parkland Ambulance)

By Susan McNeil

Baby bonus

Parkland dispatcher helps deliver baby on second shift alone

Aug 5, 2025 | 4:27 PM

A career in emergency care peaked early for a new dispatcher in Prince Albert recently.

Emma MacDonald, age 19, was only on her second shift alone on July 30 when she helped a woman deliver a baby over the phone. She described the experience as amazing.

“I think that is probably going to be the most exciting thing I am going to do. It was the most adrenalizing thing I’ve ever done. I did not sleep the rest of the night.”

The call for help came in towards the end of MacDonald’s second shift without a trainer next to her, showing her the ropes.

“This lady had called me and said her stepdaughter was in labour. It was the stepmom calling and they were in their vehicle,” she said.

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“I was a little bit freaking out, if I’m being honest.”

Despite training, she felt like she had no idea what to do in that moment of high tension but luckly had co-workers nearby that helped give her tips as she instructed the stepmom on what to do.

“They had trained me very nicely coming into it and actually had told me to look over that card the day before.”

It was a second baby for the mom, but the stepmother was a little nervous, MacDonald explained.

“I gave a lot of reassurance, so I’m very glad they taught me a lot about that. That definitely helped us get through the call and keep everyone calm.”

One of the things she told the stepmom to do was to stop driving.

“She wanted to keep driving but I had told her that it was best to just stay there and let the paramedics come to them, as that is the safest [action] to do.”

At 19, she has never attended a birth in person or over the phone before.

“It went a lot faster than I expected it to go. Usually, I’ve heard they take a while and this one did not. It was a pretty quick thing.”

When the paramedics got there, the stepmom couldn’t talk to them, she was so busy thanking MacDonald over the phone.

“She was also saying it was a bit of a rollercoaster which was absolutely right, it was a bit of a rollercoaster. But she was very happy she had a beautiful baby boy grandson,” she said.

Originally, MacDonald was considering work as an EMR so she applied as a dispatcher to see how much she would like the career. That question has now been answered.

“I love the people here; I love the way everyone treats each other here. It’s just absolutely amazing, so for now I am 100 per cent staying here. I might end up doing paramedic on the other side at some point, but I’m not too sure at the moment.”

Parkland Ambulance said that like all of their staff that help deliver babies, MacDonald has been given a stork award to hang up on the wall and she got a stork pin for her uniform.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social