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Text With 911 service available in city for people with hearing or speech disabilities

Sep 25, 2018 | 3:39 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — It’s the lifeline in many emergencies, but 911 is not completely accessible to everyone.

The City of Medicine Hat is working to close the accessibility gap, reminding residents of the Text With 911 service, available to those with hearing or speech disabilities.

The service has been available in Alberta since June 2017.

“There was a need identified with members of the community who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, and so it was a way for them to have a tool to communicate with emergency services when they need it,” said Colleen Bachewich, superintendent of 911 communications with the city.

Those who need the service can register by contacting their phone provider or visiting www.textwith911.ca.

In case of an emergency, the person will dial 911 as normal. At the 911 dispatch centre, a notification will come up, alerting the operator that they will need to text with the caller in order to provide help.

“We utilize protocols for all calls for service that we take, and so (when) we go through those protocols, we would have to type them in to get the same answer from those on the other side,” Bachewich said. “We would get creative if we need to condense that to get the right answer, but it would basically be the same thing, just a different medium.”

Bachewich says the city has recognized it needs to bring more attention to the program following meetings with the city’s advisory committee of disability issues.

“I think we could’ve done better at the onset to communicate it to the community, for sure,” she said. “We’re taking those steps right now to make sure everyone is aware of it. It was an oversight, and we’re trying to correct that.”

She adds the program will also help improve accessibility of 911 services for all people in the city.

“I think this is a game changer for people, just to have some security or knowledge that they have a way to communicate that’s going to get to emergency services than if they were creative and had other means to do that previously,” she said.

To date, Bachewich says city 911 has not yet had to use the Text With 911 program, except in training situations.