There are serious questions surrounding Internet phone service in Calgary, as investigators try to determine whether a mix-up with a 911 call contributed to the death of a toddler.
On Tuesday night, the parents of 18-month-old Elijah Luck noticed there was something terribly wrong with the boy.
His aunt, Syliva Luck, called an ambulance using the family's Internet phone. But the call was not routed to Calgary's emergency services -- it went instead to a call centre in Concord, Ont.
Comwave, the telephone company, says Elijahs' parents registered the phone in Mississauga, Ont. When they moved to Calgary, the 911 service defaulted to their old address.
When Luck's emergency call somehow became disconnected, the operator called EMS in Ontario.
Calgary EMS is still investigating, as is Comwave, but the family says what happened to them should be a lesson for anyone that uses Internet phone services, called voice-over-Internet-protocol technology (or VoIP).
"I want them to be aware of this VoIP thing fully," said Luck on Thursday, "because it's being used all over the world and be aware of what's happening, because we don't want more lives to go like this."
With VoIP providers' emergency services, 911 calls are answered by the provider's call centre, which connects the call to the local EMS call centre. An investigation is underway into why that initial call for help never made it through.
"We have no record of ever receiving a call from a VoIP contact centre, we have done that groundwork, but now we have to go even further in our investigation," Chief Tom Sampson with the Calgary EMS told CTV Calgary.
EMS officials say Internet phone customers need to be better informed on how their 911 service works.
The painful episode began for Elijah's family when he woke up crying from his nap on Tuesday evening. Luck went to check up on him and told CTV Calgary that when she held him up, "he was turning blue and he went limp and he just, he just collapsed."
She called 911, but hung up after five rings. She went to call on a neighbour, and upon returning received a call from someone she thought was an operator with the city's emergency services.
She gave the operator the Calgary address, and said she was then told: "We are arranging it right away, so stay on the phone." The line the became disconnected somehow, but Luck thought an ambulance was on its way.
While she waited, a neighbour gave Elijah CPR. No help arrived, so after nearly 30 minutes a second neighbour called 911 for help from a landline. Almost six minutes later, an ambulance arrived. Paramedics gave Elijah advanced life support in the ambulance on the way to hospital. But he was already in cardiac arrest, and was pronounced dead.
The family is now wondering whether Elijah would be alive today had an ambulance arrived sooner.
"We can't get him back through any way, but we have to prevent this right? We have to," said Luck.
A funeral for Elijah Luck will be held on Monday.
VOIP customers are being urged to contact their provider any time they change addresses and update their information to ensure that they have the most current information.
Tips for VoIP Subscribers
1. Provide your accurate physical address to your interconnected VoIP service provider to ensure that emergency services can quickly be dispatched to your location.
2. Be familiar with your VoIP service provider's procedures for updating your address, and promptly update address information in the event of a change.
3. Have a clear understanding of any limitations of your 911 service.
4. Inform children, babysitters, and visitors about your VoIP service and its 911 limitations, if any.
5. If your power is out or your Internet connection is down, be aware that your VoIP service may not work. Consider installing a backup power supply, maintaining a traditional phone line, or having a wireless phone as a backup.
With a report from CTV Calgary
