Planning for the effective implementation of the province's 911 Emergency Response initiative continues with the completion of nine "stakeholder forums" held across the province to gather input from emergency response and municipal officials.
Over 182 individuals attended the stakeholder forums hosted at Charlottetown, Kensington, O'Leary, Summerside, Hunter River, Montague and Cornwall. The forums were held between October 28 to November 26. Participants included representatives of dispatchers, police, ambulance, fire departments, school boards, hospitals and municipalities.
The Honourable Wes MacAleer, Minister of Community Services, stresses the 911 initiative will make for safer communities and more effective dispatch of emergency services. "When fully implemented, residents of PEI and tourists visiting the Island will no longer have to seek out separate telephone numbers for fire, ambulance or police services."
"These forums provided an ideal opportunity for all 911 partners to receive information on the 911 initiative and provide valuable input to our on-going implementation plans," said Amand Arsenault, provincial coordinator of the 911 project. "Effective communications with our emergency response partners is vital. Our implementation schedule is on track and we are continuing to communicate with all partners to receive their input."
Plans for implementing the PEI 911 project took another step forward recently with the hiring of Kevin Quinn, a 25-year employee of Island Tel, as project manager. He will have overall responsibility to ensure the project is completed on time and within budget. He reports to the project's management committee, which is comprised of one member from each of the five partners.
Quinn has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility with Island Tel. Prior to assuming his position with the 911 project, he was service delivery manager in the company's Repair Service Bureau.
Provincial Coordinator Amand Arsenault notes the benefits of a province-wide 911 Emergency Response system are many. "Children, medically fragile individuals and visitors from out of province who are already familiar with 911 services in their home jurisdictions will be able to complete a simple three-digit number to access required services," said Mr. Arsenault. "Residences and businesses will be automatically and accurately identified by a precise civic addressing system that will be displayed for the recipient of the 911 telephone call. The visual display technology, combined with the centralized call answer service, will allow for the effective dispatch of emergency services, even if a caller is distraught, excited, cannot speak clearly, or is unsure of his or her location."
The province of Prince Edward Island is one of the last jurisdictions to implement an emergency 911 system. On June 28, 1998, the provincial government, together with Island Tel, the RCMP and the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside, announced their commitment to implement 911 throughout the province.
The 911 project is a province-wide, Emergency Response System initiative designed to establish a simple, three-digit number for accessing all emergency services. When implemented by July 2000, the 911 Emergency Response System will consolidate dispatch services for fire, police and ambulance services.