REACH112 REsponding to All Citizens needing Help Integration of Total Conversation in a standard 112 Emergency Call Centre environment and comparison with 112 SMS Björn Skoglund SOS Alarm, Sweden
SWEDEN QUICK FACTS Population: 9,4 million 21 inhabitants/km2 (Estimated) 15 000 deaf people and 367 000 users with hearing device in Sweden Area: 449 964 km², fifth largest country in Europé Member of the EU since 1995 Not so good footballplayers (except for Zlatan Ibrahimovic ) but good musicians (Loreen, ABBA, Europe etc)
SINGLE EMERGENCY NUMBER 112 - single Emergency number in Sweden since 1996 (the first, 90000, was implemented in 1956) When calling 112 you can get instant help from all the Swedish joint help organisations SOS Alarm a publicly owned company - handles 112 since 1973 by agreement with the Swedish state 18 SOS-centers (PSAPs) in Sweden Handles appx 10 000 112-calls a day (appx 3,5 million a year) Of these, 1,5 million calls results in some kind of measure taken by 112 help organization
112 FOR DEAF/HEARING IMPAIRED PRE-REACH112 - Fax: ineffective, time consuming way of communicating. Number of calls/year: 0, not been used in many years - Text relay Service: communicating via text relay service is also time consuming and ineffective. Number of calls/year: estimated to 100-150 -Text telephone: slightly more effective and less time consuming with direct contact with the SOS-operator, but still you have to be at a terminal with text telephony. Number of calls/year: 109 (2011) - SMS 112: allows you to be mobile, but still time consuming. Number of calls/year: 84 (2011)
FACTS ABOUT THE SWEDISH REACH112 PILOT Appx 3 000 users of Total Conversation involved Pilot from May 2011 to April 2012 with full accessability to real 112 emergency service (SOS Alarm) for the users Users could make calls from TC-terminal, ec-pad (picture) and later on in the pilot from mobile phone (picture) 112-calls in TC connected directly to a SOS-operator at the SOS-centre in Örebro which handled all calls from Sweden A sign language interpreter was automatically connected simultanousley with the 112-call and realtime text could be used.
THE CHOICE OF THE SOS-CENTRE IN ÖREBRO FOR REACH112 SOS Alarm often chooses one or two SOS-centres to handle special services, for example the SMS112 service who is handled nationally by the SOS-centres in Östersund and Sundsvall The SOS-centre in Örebro was chosen because of the fact that Örebro: - has national gymnasiums for deaf - has a school of culture with sign language program - both Örebro municipality and county council are active in working with issues for deaf - hosts the sign relay service for the Swedish health care advice service
IMPLEMENTING REACH112 AT THE PSAP Close co-operation with Omnitor a very fruitful relationship! Establishing a separat line for IP telephony (IP telephony not used by SOS Alarm today) Developing a methodology a way to work Installing two TC terminals in the SOS-centre as stand alone workstations Training of SOS-operators in how to handle the equipment and methodology
ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION Problems with getting the TC-calls through SOS Alarms firewall because it is configurated for voice only and the network was not adapted for real time media Mostly only one TC-terminal in operation because of this How to get the spoken conversation with the sign language interpreter in SOS Alarms operational system when the call actually is answered in a stand alone system? SOS-operators not comfortable with showing their face in live video The cost for an agreement with sign language interpreter was higher than expected The sign for road and street is the same in sign language in Sweden, important fact in sending help to the correct adress SOS-operators went from being slightly negative to, at the end, being VERY positive, realizing the potential in the project (and wanted to continue)
COMPARISON Handling time measured for TC, voice 112 and SMS 112 respectively Comparison between these three different ways of communicating with 112 Only real 112-calls measured, containing need of ambulance, fire/rescue service and/or police. Few calls to TC and SMS 112 might hamper a direct comparison The figures though gives a good hint NUMBER OF CALLS INCLUDED IN THE COMPARISON: Voice 112 TC SMS 112 February appx 150 000 5 4 March appx 150 000 4 10 April appx 150 000 1 6 Total: appx 450 000 10 20 Total number of TC 112-calls in Sweden during the REACH112 project: 38
Seconds COMPARISON TC VOICE 112 HANDLING TIME 1400 1200 1235 1000 800 600 400 297 TC 367 279 200 306 Voice 112 275 0 Februari March April Voice 112 TC
Seconds COMPARISON TC SMS112 HANDLING TIME 2000 1800 1812 1600 1400 1200 1230 SMS112 1176 1235 1000 800 600 400 200 297 TC 367 0 Februari March April TC SMS
Seconds COMPARISON TC - VOICE 112 SMS112 HANDLING TIME 2000 1800 1812 1600 1400 1200 1230 SMS112 1176 1235 1000 800 600 400 297 TC 367 200 0 306 Voice 112 279 275 Februari March April Voice 112 TC SMS
Seconds COMPARISON AVERAGE HANDLING TIME, FEB-APR 1600 1400 1406 1200 1000 800 600 633 23,4 min 400 200 0 287 4,8 min 11,1 min Voice 112 TC SMS 334 The call in April not included 5,6 min
CONCLUSION ON TC VOICE - SMS 112 112-call by TC, with video and real time text is a very effective and fast way of communicating with deaf/hearing impaired people and superior to other means of communication (SMS, fax etc) To have a sign interpreter present in the call gives a quick and flowing conversation On the screen to the left, Olle who made the first REACH 112-call in Sweden Communication with video gives a bonus in that you can see the patients condition, the magnitude of a fire or and accident etc and thereby get a more efficient and correct evaluation of the situation
CONCLUSIONS IMPLEMENTATION TC to 112 assumes that the PSAP uses IPtelephony To get an effective call handling the PSAP has to integrate the software in their regular operational systems TC should have the same redundancy as other 112-calls, i.e. also work in case of disturbances in the normal systems If the chain should be complete, also stage 2 PSAPs should be equipped with TC Magnus, the SOS-operator who answered the first REACH 112-call in Sweden There is a (large) implementation cost for the integration in systems and redundancy, and continous for sign language interpreter(s) on duty 24/7
Björn Skoglund SOS Alarm Sweden bjorn.skoglund@sosalarm.se www.sosalarm.se