Š 2014 Findhelp Information Services. All rights reserved. Information in this report may not be reproduced or redistributed in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from Findhelp Information Services Angela Finateri, Manager, 211 Inquiry Services Findhelp Information Services 543 Richmond St W, Ste 125, Box 203 Toronto , ON M5V 1Y6 Tel: 416-392-4633 | e-mail: afinateri@findhelp.ca
BACKGROUND 211 Services Every Day 211 is an easy-to-remember three digit telephone number now available to all residents of Ontario, and is expanding across Canada and the United States. 211 is a helpline that simplifies finding support and community services for all Ontarians. The 211 service helps people find basic needs such as food, housing and emergency financial assistance. 211 connects those with specific needs to agencies who can help them cope with health issues, seniors services, employment, settlement and an array of other human needs. 211 also supports professionals in the human services field and volunteers at those agencies who are in need of information about community services for their clients. Calls to 211, receive a live-answer, 24/7 – 365 days a year, by a highly trained Information and Referral Specialist who will listen and help. 211 offers multilingual service in up to 170 languages as well as service for the hearing-impaired. 211 is also is available online at www.211Ontario.ca. In Ontario, seven regional service partners provide 211 services to all communities. Findhelp Information Services provides 211 service to the 4.7 million residents of 211 Central region of Toronto, York and Durham Regions. In addition, Findhelp Information Services/211 Central provides after-hours service for most Ontario 211 partners. In 2013 Findhelp answered 56% of 211 calls in Ontario and 40% of the calls to 211 across Canada.
211 Services during Emergencies In addition to responding every day, 211 service providers have demonstrated that in emergency situations, 211 can directly support members of the public, as well as assist emergency responders, municipalities and other non-government organizations at the time of a crisis as well as during the recovery phase following an emergency. 211 Central has a long history of being a reliable source of reassurance, direction and up-todate information on resources. E.g. during the 2003 SARS crisis, the August 2003 Great Northeastern Blackout, the Sunrise Propane explosion in August 2008, and the Toronto flash flood of July 2013.
THE EVENT: ICE STORM On Saturday December 21st 2013 as the Christmas holiday period was beginning, a severe winter storm coated Toronto and many parts of Ontario and Eastern Canada in a thick 30 mm layer of ice. Freezing rain affected residents from south of London, to Ottawa and Montreal and southern Quebec. As the storm moved to central and southern new Brunswick, all of P.E.I. and most of Nova Scotia were impacted, affecting millions of Canadians in Eastern Canada.
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Freezing rain turned roads and sidewalks into skating rinks making travelling hazardous. Ice laden trees and branches fell onto power lines. Approximately 300,000 people in Toronto were without power. After 24 hours, Toronto Hydro was still working to restore power to 254,000 customers. The worst hit parts of Toronto were the neighborhoods near the 401 highway, from Etobicoke to Scarborough. In Toronto, sidewalks around some high rise buildings were closed due to the risk of falling ice. Environment Canada warned that wind gusts up to 50 km/hour could cause further damage and power outages across the region. “It truly is a catastrophic ice storm that we have had here, probably one of the worst we’ve ever had,” Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines was quoted as saying in the National Post on Sunday December 22nd. Two Toronto hospitals, Sunnybrook and East General, were without power and running on back-up generators. About 50 crews worked overnight to clear tree-strewn roadways, restore downed wires and bring residents back on line. Crews arrived in Southern Ontario from Ottawa and Windsor to provide assistance. The storm paralyzed much of the city of Toronto’s s transit system. TTC streetcar service was suspended due to ice covered power lines, and part of the subway system was closed. People heading away for the holidays had their plans delayed when 27% of all flights, approximately 205 flights, were cancelled at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on December 22nd. Eleven people were taken to hospital with signs of carbon monoxide poisoning and two people died in the town of Newcastle, east of Toronto, after trying to keep warm with a gas generator in the garage. 90,000 people in Toronto were still without power on Monday night December 23rd. Further warnings were given on Tuesday December 24th, with the city issuing an extreme cold weather alert when temperatures were projected to drop to -14C overnight.
ROLE OF 211 The ice storm struck a large area of Ontario on the Saturday before Christmas exacerbating the challenge of responding to caller needs because staff from all social services were leaving for the holiday season. After hours Findhelp was very busy handling 211 calls for the province (with the exception of Peel) and Nova Scotia. Within the first 48 hours of the Ice Storm the 211 service at Findhelp had more than doubled its call volume compared with the previous week and staff answered twice as many calls, a total of 1535 in comparison with 745 in the same period the week before. The call volumes spiked twice during this 48 hour period the first spike occurred at 2:00pm on Sunday December 22 with over 120 calls in one hour and then again at 10am on Monday December 23, 2013. In addition to answering inquiries related to the restoration of hydro, places to go to stay warm and how to support vulnerable persons, staff were busy trying to
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document the needs of the callers which became more challenging as the call volume increased.
WHY PEOPLE CALLED 211
A young single parent with two children under the age of three. Caller had been without power for several hours. Apartment was getting very cold and caller was inquiring about when hydro would be restored.
On Christmas Eve, a man and his partner were instructed by the Red Cross volunteer to contact 211 because of a fire that occurred in their building, they were newcomers with very limited financial resources. They were currently at a warming centre and needed shelter.
The daughter of an elderly woman with emphysema and on oxygen called 211 because Medigas was not able to deliver the oxygen that her mother required because five trees had fallen on her street and the company could not get through.
At time of calling 211, a resident in a Toronto Housing complex, had helped several neighbours with disabilities with food, candles and other supplies they needed in order to stay comfortable in their homes. However, she now had very little left for herself.
Caller lived in a condominium in North Toronto. Caller had gone to check on a senior neighbour who was disabled and had no family. Located on the 29th floor on the building he was unable to get out to the warming centre as he could not walk down the stairs.
A woman called very distraught because her mother was 83 years old and bedbound. They had been without power for a few days and now the situation had become desperate. The house was completely freezing and she needed immediate help in having her mother placed in a care facility or proper location for safety and health reasons.
A 79 year old man with dementia calling from a warming centre wanting to know if his area had power. Very upset and confused, just wanted to go home. At time of call there was still no power in his area.
A Single mother of five children of whom one was physical disabled, called 211 because she had no family or friends that could assist her in getting to a warming centre and she had no money for a taxi.
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COMMUNICATION Although there had been media coverage of the impeding Ice Storm, the system was not expected to threaten Toronto in the same way it would the surrounding areas of the GTA. All communication to the Information and Referral Specialists came from the Director of Inquiry Services. The staff were instructed to access all news media and websites with live feeds to keep them informed of the developments of the ice storm and any communication from City of Toronto officials. Fortunately, Findhelp was not affected by the Ice Storm and staff had access to the internet, phones and television as a source of communication.
KEY LEARNINGS Lessons learned from the Ice Storm, December 2013 to help Findhelp plan better in the future include: (a) Management team meet in person or by phone on the Friday before the impending ice storm to discuss and strategize the possibility of the ice storm affecting Toronto and have emergency plan ready to implement in the event that it did occur, including having CIRS staff on standby. (b) With realization of the growing number of calls, Findhelp management team quickly strategize on ways to manage call volume. E.g.: -
Bring in additional staff Request any 211 provider for which after-hours service is provided, to not transfer calls if able to do so Request that a 211 service for which Findhelp usually answers after-hours calls that is able to extend their hours of service to take the after-hours calls of other 211 services
(c) Alert management staff to the problem as soon as there is a trend in calls out of the normal, given the media information (d) Put in place a simplified call tracking process to highlight calls out of the ordinary for reporting purposes (e) Assign roles such as monitoring of the weather and impact of the storm to an individual, possibly someone outside the office (f) Coordinate 211 response with the City of Toronto’s 311 service.
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OUTCOME Recognizing the need for better coordination with 211, the City of Toronto’s 311 service has proposed that 211 will have access to internal vital information in the event of such emergencies in the future.
APPENDIX - EXAMPLES OF CALLER INQUIRIES Subject: Ice Storm/Basic Needs Situation/Assessment: I received a call from a woman calling from the central area of Toronto stating she had run out of food and water. The food that had been in her refrigerator had spoiled, and without power, she could not cook or bake. Any food that she could prepare from her cupboard had already been eaten. She had no financial means to buy something to eat and she mentioned the grocery store in her area had run out of food. She was calling from the downtown area, and unfortunately, during the holidays many food banks were closed or had run out of food as well. Action/Referral(s): I checked the warming centres and police divisions to see which ones would be within reasonable walking distance to the caller. I called 52 Division, which was in her area; they stated they only had cots and no snacks left. I then called the Toronto Police Headquarters, which was within walking distance and they still had water and snacks available. I asked the caller if she would be interested and comfortable attending a meal program close by and provided her with a referral to Osgoode Hall for dinner. I let her know she could call 211 back 24 hours if she needed more assistance. Subject: Power Outage/Advocacy Situation/Assessment: A caller called overnight during the ice storm power outage; she had been without power for four days. In her Toronto Housing complex there are several neighbours with disabilities and she has been helping them with candles, food and support. They had all now run out of supplies. She had heard Toronto Housing was sending people around, but none of her acquaintances had seen them yet. Action/Referral(s): I checked the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) website and it did state they were sending people to all TCHC locations without power regularly. As the caller’s cell phone was almost out of power when she called, I told her I would contact TCHC and call her back to tell her what they said. I called the TCHC and the individual at the call centre said that they had sent a safety officer to the complex, but would send someone over in the morning to check on the residents. I called the client back and told her what he had said. I told her to call us back if they did not show up. I asked a co-worker to call TCHC to see if they were able to go to this location during the day. The woman’s phone was out of power and she could no longer be reached. TCHC could not confirm whether they had been there or not.
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IN ONTARIO: 211 SERVICE – EVERYDAY AND DURING EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND RECOVERY Preamble The 211 service is standards driven. Organizations providing 211 services are accredited by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS). The goal is for 211 to be the first door and best place for everyone in Ontario to find, connect to and communicate with human services by phone and online. In the event of an emergency, 211 service is available as a public information line and to complement the community’s existing capacity.
Public Information 211 service organizations provide and receive information 211 is an easy to remember phone number for live answer, multilingual information and referral about community, health and social services 24/7/365. (If 211 regional provider is requested to extend hours of service there may be associated costs) The assessment and referrals provided to residents and service providers is confidential, and can help people find services they didn’t know existed or are more appropriate for their circumstance Includes TTY and email channels Monitors news and social media and posts facts or notices to call 211 or visit specified websites for information and rumour control Develops and retains relationships with municipal and other social services including those that respond to incidents including local branches of Red Cross, Victim Services, Salvation Army, St John Ambulance and the Humane Society/SPCA to complement their services Able to establish a public access point in reception and/or evacuation centres to provide inperson information and/or referrals to both residents and service providers. (May have associated costs)
Online Inventories 211 service providers collectively maintain a comprehensive, current database of 56,000 human services agencies and programs 211 providers maintain local inventories of disaster services and information that is continually updated throughout the recovery period after an incident Able to deploy local information websites for public to access in real-time, for current information about post incident services including shelters, food and meals, schools, halls, pharmacies, banks and cash machines, laundromats etc May collect- pre-determined or customized details about people who want to volunteer, Findhelp Information Services 2014 Ice Storm After Action Report | page 8
including their skills and equipment, following an incident making the information available in real-time to designated contacts or organizations utilizing volunteers. Works with volunteer centres where they exist to provide volunteer brokerage services when directed May collect- pre-determined or customized details about goods and services donated by individuals, governments, businesses or organizations and make information available in realtime to designated contacts or provides goods and services brokerage when directed Can support case management for vulnerable population fan out procedures working with agencies such as Public Health, Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) and/or Mental Health Services to support the creation of an inventory of people facing mobility barriers, are isolated or need key health services such as dialysis Maintains up-to-date lists of where and how cash donations can be made. (May have associated costs)
Tracking Needs Using predetermined or customized collection details, 211 providers monitor calls, TTY, social media and email contacts to track changing service needs, unmet needs, service gaps and trends. 211 providers can produce real-time and/or after-action reports with aggregated data to support information useful to municipalities and other levels of government.
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