E-Comm changes expecting to cut down delays for B.C. 911 call takers

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Anyone who tried to call 9-1-1 Thursday was likely met with long delays as call-takers say the system is stretched thin.

E-Comm is supposed to answer a call in five seconds or less, but the longest wait time was six and a half minutes on Thursday.

“The challenges that we’ve been seeing are that with delay transfer times to the ambulance service, our 911 call takers have to stay on the line with callers until an available ambulance call taker is able to connect. So what that means is that our 911 call takers are being tied up, which makes them unavailable to answer other incoming 911 emergencies,” Jasmine Bradley, who speaks for the agency, explains to NEWS 1130.

But these delays have been going on since before the summer.

“The demand and strain on emergency services across the board was historic in terms of 911 call volumes E-Comm was seeing … That being said, the call transfer delays of the ambulance service has been a consistent issue and continues to be an issue,” Bradley says.

A big challenge is that people hear a recording asking them to stay on hold, yet callers have continued to hanging up and call back.

So, Bradley says E-Comm will be working with B.C. Emergency Health Services to update the recorded announcement that callers hear while they’re on the line with 911 call taker waiting to connect with an ambulance call taker.

“We absolutely need people to stay on the line. If you hear that recorded announcement, hanging up is just going to mean that you’re waiting longer,” she explains, adding this is also, “tying up the system as our call takers do still need to pass that information to B.C. EHS.

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E-Comm’s goal is to have this system in place in the next week or so.

Being a 911 call taker and dispatcher is a demanding job on the best of days, Bradley says. “But the challenges that we’ve seen with COVID through to the heat dome, and the wildfires and delays with transferring calls to the ambulance service, it’s taking a tremendous toll on our people,” she says. This is why solutions to remedy their problems are being made.