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A new text service in the Interior offers vital and potentially lifesaving communications link for people who are deaf/deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing or speech impaired.
The service is delivered by E-Comm – the emergency communications centre responsible for answering 911 calls in the central and southern Interior – in partnership with local emergency service agencies.
The service, provided exclusively to the hearing and speech impaired, is now available throughout the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan, Central Kootenay, Columbia-Shuswap, Okanagan- Similkameen, Thompson-Nicola, East Kootenay, Kootenay-Boundary and Squamish-Lillooet regional districts.
“T9-1-1 is a vital connection to police, fire and ambulance and enables quick communication between a deaf caller and emergency services,” said Gordon Rattray, treasurer of the Okanagan Valley Association of the Deaf.
“In the past deaf people were limited by communication barriers and would have to use phone relay or TTY (telephone typewriter) which would take five or 10 minutes longer.”
Voice calling remains the only way to communicate with 911 services for a person who is not deaf/deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing or speech impaired. Text messages sent directly to the digits 911 do not reach emergency services anywhere in Canada.
