North Central Ambulance Association

Michael Dutchak, president of the North Central Ambulance Association (NCAA), got into the ambulance business unexpectedly - when several youngsters, including his daughter Barbara and son Wayne, were in a car accident in Blaine Lake in 1957.  Since there was no ambulance in town, Michael got his station wagon and took them to hospital in Saskatoon.

The experience brought home to Michael Dutchak the critical need for an ambulance service in his hometown and surrounding district.  Within a few months, he had started Blaine Lake Ambulance. Blaine Lake still operates today as the cornerstone of NCAA serving residents of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.

Dutchak started with the bare essentials - a folding canvas stretcher in the back of his station wagon. Today the NCAA boasts some of the finest medical equipment, vehicles and personnel in the province of Saskatchewan. The NCAA is the leader in emergency medical services. Over 150 employees in 6 different locations utilize state of the art communications equipment and emergency vehicles to provide emergency medical services (EMS) to a large portion of Saskatchewan residents and visitors, answering over 23,000 EMS calls each year.

NCAA, a leader in the EMS community, spearheaded the first EMT course in Saskatchewan in 1976. Since then, NCAA's support of Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) has brought EMT's and Paramedics to Saskatchewan. Great strides have been made in EMS in Saskatchewan thanks to the efforts of the NCAA. The Saskatchewan Ambulance Association grew from these efforts. The NCAA continues to be major players in all the communities they serve. Not just as corporate citizens, but as proud community supporters in a vast range of activities and events. One has to visit any NCAA company and see what pride the certificates, awards, gifts, photographs, and customer praises mean to the employees and the owners of the services.

Today the Dutchak family continues to play a major role in the operations of all these services. NCAA is proud of its employees, some with more than 25 years of dedicated service. Their family, employees, and business ties have always been, and will continue to be their strength and a key to their success. You don't get to where NCAA is now by sitting still and waiting for something to come to you. You make it happen. The family and all the employees in each NCAA ambulance location "make things happen."  NCAA was the leaders in EMS in 1957 and will continue to be the leaders in the next century.