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Contact UsCALGARY– A toddler died in north Calgary last Tuesday because paramedics rushed to wrong address which is three provinces away in the southern Ontario city of Mississauga.
The tragic death of 18-month-old Elijah Luck demonstrates the critical differences between the 911 services of traditional land-lines and phone companies that now use voice over Internet technology.
Phone company Comwave said Thursday its emergency call centre did get a call from somebody in distress, but it “was not completed” and insufficient address information was given.
So what they ended up doing was going to plan B – which is the address that’s on file for the VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) caller. And in this case it was an address in a completely different city.
company spokeswoman Alison George said.
George said the combination of an expired address on file and the fact that the new address wasn’t fully conveyed to operators led to a “highly unfortunate” set of circumstances for a system that was indeed working.
Comwave says the Internet phone technology is transportable so there’s no physical address attached to the numbers.
And George says it’s vital that people using such phone providers keep their emergency contact information updated, especially if they move. According to him:
You don’t want to go into where does the fault lie? It’s just so tragic. It’s more if you’re a VoIP subscriber, please understand how this service differs and why. Because your phone service is not linked to a geographic address, it really is critically important when speaking to 911 that your address is fully delivered and fully understood and you’re transferred to the EMS service provider in your area.
The Luck family admits that Elijah had been born premature and suffered from numerous health problems. But he seemed to be making progress.
On Tuesday evening, the boy’s aunt, Sylvia, said she immediately called for help after he woke up and began having seizures. But by the time paramedics finally arrived, it was too late to revive the infant.
A spokesperson in Ottawa said Thursday that three years ago the commission ordered VoIP companies to provide “enhanced 911 service” through call centers.
Companies are also required to advise customers every year about the differences between the emergency services of traditional land-lines.