‘Help, I’m in Kaitaia’: testing 111 operators

Think you can pinpoint Te Awamutu on a blank map?

How about Kaitaia and Greymouth? Still confident?

If so, you could be ready for the entrylevel test to be an emergency call-taker at Wellington Free Ambulance.

But don’t get too cocky – for the advanced test you’ll need to pinpoint the likes of Raetihi and Darfield.

About three times a year, Wellington Free Ambulance learning and development adviser Julie Sherston has the job of taking new recruits through their geographical paces so they can direct help to the right place when time is critical.

Despite the service’s capital-specific name, staff at Wellington Free frequently relieve St John call centres in Christchurch and Auckland when the phone lines are busy, so they must have good knowledge of the whole country.

People caught up in an emergency or

"The caller assumes the person they're talking to is local, so we get: 'Just across the road from the KFC'." Wellington Free Ambulance learning and development adviser Julie Sherston

traumatic event often panicked and forgot where they were, so call-takers needed to be extra sharp, Sherston said.

‘‘The caller assumes the person they’re talking to is local, so we get: ‘Just across the road from the KFC’.

‘‘Callers don’t know where they are – they don’t know what road they’re on – they’ll go, ‘I’m just driving to Abby’s house’. Well yeah, that’s great.’’

Sherston has to teach recruits there are three places called Otara in New Zealand, including one at the bottom of the South Island, as well as two Avondale suburbs and two Avondale roads.

This month, a new system called PCL – probable call location – kicked in across police, fire and ambulance, which allows call-takers to activate a system that zones in on the caller if the location is proving tricky.

It does not require a warrant or the consent of the caller, so Privacy Commissioner John Edwards had to amend the privacy rules to allow it. Data is deleted after about 30 minutes.

‘‘It basically works in a circle, and works until we can pinpoint the caller,’’ Sherston said.

It relies on a good signal but when it works well, it can even detect which side of the road the caller is on.

It can come in handy when someone’s calling from the Auckland Motorway, or when tourists are on the end of the line.

Call centres for police, fire and St John Ambulance were previously able to request the information from telcos, but the process was slow and manual.