SUPPORTED BY

Presented by

Pamela Hillier – Community Connection/211 Central East Ontario

Steven Baxter – former CEMC District of Muskoka

March 25th, 2013

211’s Role in

Emergency Response

and Recovery

Presentation Outline

• What is 211?

• 211 Ontario Regional Service Partners

• 211’s Role in Disaster & Emergency

• Connecting with Government

• The Goderich Tornado Experience

• 211 Ontario & Exercise Huron Challenge IV

• Questions

What is 211?

3

N11 System in Canada

211 – public information & referral services

311 - non-emergency municipal government services

411 - directory assistance

511 - weather, traffic & travel information

611 - telephone company repair service

711 - message relay for telephone devices for the deaf

811 - non-urgent health care telephone triage services

911 - emergency services

4

Components of 211 Service Delivery

5

Public Inquiry Online Directories Caller Needs

Current Population Served by 211

6

Canada 58%

Ontario 100%

United States 90%

211 Service Standards

7

8

211 Regional Service Partners

9

Bruce - 2,325

Grey - 6,960

Haliburton - 226

Huron - 719

Kawartha Lakes - 912

Muskoka - 2,150

Northumberland - 1,403

Parry Sound - 447

Perth - 1,007

Peterborough - 2,395

Simcoe - 31,686

Outside Region - 700

Public Inquiry

2012 – 51,000 contacts

5% population or

11% of households

211Ontario.ca

Online Directories

InfoMuskoka.ca

12.6% Financial Assistance

14.4% Housing/Utilities

12.3% Government (all levels)

12.1% Health Services 4.2% Transportation

5.6% Legal Assistance

5.2% Mental Health & Addictions

5.1% Food & Meals

3.4% Recreation

4.9% Home Supports

Caller Needs

12

2012 - Central East Ontario

During Response and Recovery

13

Public Inquiry Online Directories Caller Needs

211 public inquiry role within the

communications structure

Inquiring

public

Emergency Responders

& Other Agencies

Municipal or

Provincial

Emergency

Management

Coordination

211

receives

authoritative

information

from Emergency

Information

Officer

14

Connecting with Municipal Government

Issues faced by Muskoka

• 32 departments across 7 governments duplicating

data in emergency contact lists

• Summer students not capable of doing the work

• A 6-line call centre staffed by the planning and finance

departments

STEP 1 – Emergency Resources Directory

• Reduce duplication of services and increase

productivity by outsourcing the maintenance of the

emergency contacts to 211

• Development of a database about regional service

providers

- Subdivided by type and kind of product or service

- Cross referenced to user departments

- Available in Paper, online and on mobile devices

- (Password Protected)

STEP 2 – Memorandum of Understanding

• Public Information Line

– Provide 24/7 inquiry services, in multiple

languages, to the community. Assessing the needs

of callers, evaluating appropriate resources,

indicating organizations capable of meeting those

needs.

• Reception Centre Access Points

– Establish a public access point in Reception /

Evacuation Centres.

STEP 2 – Memorandum of Understanding

• Volunteer brokerage services

– Establish connections between residents and

independent volunteer service providers.

• Information Gathering

– Seek out information relating to the emergency

effects, organizational or community needs and to

provide a consolidated report or listing.

• Reports

– Produce reports that describe the service needs

and trends of contacts received from all access

points

211 Experience – Goderich Tornado

August 21st, 2011

19

20

GoderichGoderichGoderichGoderich

21

0

50

100

150

200

250

Aug

22

Aug

23

Aug

24

Aug

25

Aug

26

Aug

27

Aug

28

Aug

29

Aug

30

Aug

31

Sep

1

Sep

2

Sep

3

Daily Disaster Related Calls to 211

Weeks One and Two (August 22nd to September 3rd)

Number of Calls Diverted to 211

First Two Weeks

Disaster Related Calls to 211

During the First Six Weeks

#1 – Volunteering

#2 – Donations

#3 – Businesses

#4 - Government

#5 – Financial

#6 – Environment

#7 – Legal Services

#8 – Community Agencies

#9 – Food/Meals

#10 – Housing

22

211 Response & Support

First Six Weeks

• Answered 6,686 calls of which 1,346 were disaster

related (including one TTY call)

• Responded to 68 emails regarding the disaster

• Registered 737 people to volunteer

• Registered 481 people/businesses with donations

• Called 243 people to volunteer

23

Post Disaster Database

25

Post Disaster Database

Post Disaster Database

26

Volunteer Information Collection

27

28

Donations Information Collection

Facebook for Information/Rumour Control

29

30

Facebook for Information/Rumour Control

Huron Challenge & 211 Ontario

Bruce County EOC Kincardine EIC Port Elgin

Evacuation Centre

Site

navigation

to quickly

access

information

about the

exercise

Links to access disaster database;

entry forms to register

volunteers & donations; &

contact tracking tools

Mock updates

about the event

Cloud-based Portal

Key

updates

posted

when

received

Main

search

screen with

multiple

search

options

& custom

topic

searches

Database listing

examples are live links

to full details

Dis

ast

er

Da

tab

ase

Data entry forms

feed separate

downloadable

databases

in real time

Ce

ntr

ali

zed

Re

gis

tra

tio

n

Ce

ntr

ali

zed

Co

nta

ct T

rack

ing

Ca

lle

r N

ee

ds

Re

po

rt

Public Inquiry in YOUR Community?

• 211 Ontario and its seven Regional Service Partners

are established and experienced agencies that can aid

government during disasters.

• The system is already in place and is already taking

these calls province wide.

• Is your program duplicating a service that can be

performed more efficiently by these professionals?

SUPPORTED BY

Pamela Hillier, Executive Director

Community Connection/211 Central East Ontario

phillier@communityconnection.ca

Questions?

Steve Baxter, former CEMC

The District Municipality of Muskoka

Steve.baxter@me.com