Code Birth, Code Blue, STEMI Alert, SWAT, Trauma Alert, Disaster and Mass Casualty. The UF Health Contact Center is responsible for handling emergency calls from outside and within our system, as well as overhead paging.
The team (formerly referred to as the Call Center) operates and processes more than 150 million calls each year for UF Health, including UF Health Shands and the UF colleges of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry. Although it is behind the scenes, the Contact Center is an integral part of UF Health.
“We are here for everyone!” said Lisa Friedrich, a Contact Center agent. “Not only do we connect doctors to doctors, but we transfer patients and families to outpatient practices and loved ones in the hospital; answer and take messages for 100-plus practices and departments; and are vital to life services like LifeQuest and the Tuberculosis Hotline.”
During weekends, holidays and after hours, the Contact Center handles incoming calls transferred from diverse programs, including UF Health Shands departments, UF Health Physicians outpatient practices, academic departments and the UF Health Physicians Patient Access Center. The team’s custom-designed phone system alerts them to incoming calls to physician practices and the agents take messages or page an on-call physician if a caller cannot wait and needs to speak with someone about an urgent medical situation.
An example of a vital emergency event is Code Blue — typically initiated by medical staff when a patient goes into cardiac arrest — which activates an alarm in the Contact Center. The agents must react immediately to dispatch staff correctly to the appropriate unit. Similar to Code Blue, all other codes and emergency situations have their own unique protocol to follow quickly without failure. The Contact Center system alerts the agent to the correct protocol and on-call groups.
Agents at the Contact Center enjoy the uncertainty each shift brings and take pride in assisting callers in emergency situations.
“I enjoy never knowing who or what kind of call I am going to answer next,” said Theresa Brault, who has been a Contact Center agent for 32 years. “We get them all. Some you laugh with, and some you want to reach through the phone and give them a reassuring hug.”
Specialty services supported by the UF Health Contact Center:
nPOD Pancreas Research Donation
LifeQuest
CTSI Informed Consent Hotline
SWAT Emergency Line
STEMI Alerts
Cath Team Activation
Stroke Alerts
Sepsis Alerts
Code Navy
Pre-Code Navy
Code Blue
Code Birth
Adult SWAT
PEDs SWAT
Condition H
Pediatric Open Arrest Alert
Child Protection Team
Disaster Notification
Casualty Management
Bioterrorism
Bomb Threat
Severe Weather
System Failure and Loss of Utilities
Radiation Control
