City of Winnipeg recognizes 911 operators during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

Winnipeg, MB - The City of Winnipeg is celebrating the work of our Winnipeg Police Service and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service 911 operators for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 12 to 18, 2015.

National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is a great opportunity to recognize all telecommunications personnel for their front line service to our communities.

In times of intense personal crisis and/or community disasters, the 911 public safety answering points are the first access for reaching all levels of emergency assistance, including police, fire and ambulance. The Public Safety Answering Point is the lifeline between the community and the public safety service that they require. For anyone who has used 911, the importance of celebrating this week is immeasurable.

Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) 911 staff quickly and efficiently answered over 666,000 phone calls in 2014

WPS call takers handle emergency and non-emergency calls. The call taker will provide information to ensure the caller's safety while also gathering information that is vitally important to attending resources, such as suspect descriptions or possible injuries. They handle calls such as robberies, break and enters and assaults, to name a few.

WFPS call takers keep callers calm and provide reassurance by coaching callers through interventions such as CPR, rescue breathing, and childbirth. They aid callers to ensure they are rescued from burning buildings and coordinate high angle and river water rescues. These are just a few of the many situations in which these �first, first responders� have assisted callers.

WFPS communications operators serve the general public in more than just an emergency role, linking the public to specialized agencies such as Health Links Info Santé and the Mobile Crisis Unit, as well as providing specific technical assistance to outside agencies. Communications operators are an integral part of the support systems for outreach programs such as the Main Street Project and the Emergency Paramedic in the Community Program.

Through the Computer Aided Dispatch system the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service maintains a registry of the locations of the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Automated External Defibrillators and a listing of information attached to any civic address relating to special emergency response circumstances.