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The City of Port Coquitlam

MEMORANDUM

J. Maitland DATE: March 31, 1994
Acting Administrator

M. Schmor
Treasury Supervisor

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In 1991 the Greater Vancouver Regional District implemented "911". In so doing, it
allevisted a magnitude of problems throughout the emergency services.

When you dial "911" your address is displayed on a computer screen which enables a
dispatcher to verify where the call is coming from and dispatch an emergency unit to your
home. Although this will expedite service to a residence it has become a serious problem
to places of business such as the City of Port Coquitlam.

The problem is that "911" can only display one address, and that is the address of the
primary phone number. In our case that is City Hall, 2580 Shaughnessy Street. If you cial
"911" from an off premise location such as Wilson Centre, Hyde Creek Centre, the arena,
one of the pools etc the address showing as the site of the emergency will show City Hail,

2580 Shaughnessy Street.

‘We have had a number of occasions when our staff have called "911" and have had to
argue with the dispatcher at "911" that they are NOT at City Hall, they are at for example,
2150 Wilson Avenue (Seniors Centre). This causes distress to our staff and wastes
valuable time in an emergency. |

I have spoken to Janet Calder of GVRD, Shawn Magnesson of ‘B.C. Tel, a B.C.
Ambulance Rep and a Police Rep, all are very aware of this situation. This situation exists
throughout North America as we are all using the same equipment. Every municipality,
bank, school, business etc that has a central switchboard with off premise locations

extending from it is faced with this problem.
A further complication we have is:

Wilson Centre, 2150 Wilson Avenue (and)
Wilson Place, 2250 Wilson Avenue

They are continuaily being confused by "911". Wilson Place is a seniors apartment
building located across the street with a similar name and address as our facility. |

"Oli" dispatches to Wilson Place usually once a day and sometimes more. ‘When our staff

call "911" from Wilson Centre, the dispatcher reads "City Hall, 2580 Shaughnessy Street”,
our staff say,"no, Wilson Centre", dispatcher says "you mean Wilson Place?" This is a
frequent occurance and although we can not change the name of either of these buildings,
it would be helpful if our staff identify their building as the City’s seniors facility. =

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