Telecommunications Operator - The Jewish Hospital

About the role

The Telecommunications Operator expedites telephone, radio, pager and public address communications throughout the Hospital, including emergency announcements and notifications in accordance with the Emergency Preparedness Manual.

Responsibilities

• Functions as a full-time operator; responds, prioritizes and navigates all internal and external calls promptly and courteously, including patient information and transferring to patient rooms.
• Coordinates language and sign language interpretation requests from callers.
• Troubleshoots and resolves caller problems and specific requests in a timely manner.
• Maintains pagers (site‑specific).
• Utilizes paging system, two‑way radio and portable phones as needed.
• When requested, contacts on‑call teams/personnel and documents according to site‑specific protocol.
• Monitors and responds appropriately to alarms (security/panic, maintenance, elevator, weather radio, Responder 5, emergency phone line).
• Responds to emergency codes and follows site‑specific policies.
• Records all shift occurrences and fulfills documentation requirements per site policies/protocol.
• May organize and update the hospital directory; track employee pager assignments; assist managers in ordering departmental language phones; order office supplies; attend hospital staff meetings as needed.
• Coordinates calls for “on‑call teams”; documents calls (name, time), tracks and follows outcome of each request, and notifies appropriate personnel of response status.
• Monitors and responds to alarm and security systems; identifies alert situations (emergency/disaster codes, medical gases, severe weather, elevator malfunction, security systems); notifies appropriate response personnel and documents alert type and call/response details.
• Determines need for outside operator assistance and connects callers as appropriate.
• Responds to, prioritizes and dispatches calls forwarded from the information desk during its non‑staffed hours.
• Coordinates all language line requests; documents calls (location, time) and connects callers with language line personnel.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma (minimum education)
• Experience preferred but not required

Skills

• Prior telecommunications experience (preferred)
• Medical terminology knowledge (pre