Text With 911 Goes Live In Kawartha Lakes
Media Release
Thursday August 25th , 2016
Text With 911 Goes Live In Kawartha Lakes
If you are part of the deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech impaired (DHHSI) community you will now have the ability to text to 911 (T9-1-1) in the City of Kawartha Lakes. During an emergency, T9-1-1 provides the City of Kawartha Lakes Police 9-1-1 Call Centre with the ability to converse with you using text messaging. The service will also allow the Call Centre to forward your information to the Ontario Provincial Police, Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue or Kawartha Lakes Paramedic Service.
How It Works
T9-1-1 provides 9-1-1 call centres with the ability to converse with a deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech impaired (DHHSI) person during an emergency, using text messaging. When a DHHSI person requires 9-1-1 services, they dial 9-1-1 on their cell phone. There is no need for them to speak, as the 9-1-1 call taker will receive an indicator that tells them to communicate with the caller via text messaging. The 9-1-1 call taker then initiates text messaging with the caller to address the emergency.
A DHHSI person must register for T9-1-1 with their wireless service provider and must have an eligible cell phone before being able to utilize this service. This includes the ability to send and receive text messages. Information on cell phones that meet T9-1-1 requirements are available on your wireless service provider’s Web site. The sign-up process requires that the applicant has a qualified cell phone.
T9-1-1 is considered a “best efforts” service due to the technology constraints associated with text messaging. As with any text messaging services, there is no guarantee a text message will be sent, delivered or received in a timely manner. In the unlikely event that this happens, the user will need to re-send the message. Providing location information and the nature of the emergency in the first message is imperative. The 9-1-1 call taker may receive an approximate location of your cell phone with your 9-1-1 call, however it is important for the caller to confirm the exact location of the emergency.
For more information on the T9-1-1 Service; instructional videos on how to register; and links to cell service providers please visit www.textwith911.ca .