City of Toronto
What’s the best way to teach people whether a crisis situation warrants a 911 call? Show them the situations.
For most people, 911 is the first place they turn to for help. But calling 911 when a situation doesn’t require an urgent Police, Fire, or Paramedic response isn’t always the best way to get the help they’re looking for. And it can even impact wait times for those in an active emergency.
So to reduce delays in accessing urgent emergency services, the City of Toronto and Toronto Police Services needed to educate residents on the correct times to call 911 – or an alternate service – because making the right call not only helps divert non-emergency traffic, it provides better, and oftentimes faster, help: 211 for mental health and social support, 311 for City services and programs, the Toronto Police Service non-emergency line or Police website for reporting inactive crimes.
“Knowing which number to call – and when – isn’t something the average person spends a lot of time thinking about. 911 is fast. It’s easy to remember. But many people aren’t aware of those other numbers. Not to mention, it’s a lot of information to throw at people. To make it stickier, we’ve found a more engaging way to teach through visual storytelling. When you see the work, you quickly understand that not all emergencies are created equal, and that different situations require different help.”
– Vini Dalvi, CCO
So we decided to do some visual storytelling to clearly show the difference between city service numbers and the situations which would warrant a call to them. Working with Toronto-based illustrator Katy Dockrill (@katy.dockrill), we crafted different scenarios that Torontonians may experience, showing two similar scenes with two different outcomes. A racoon hit by a car? Call 211. A person hit by a car? Call 911. We tied these outcomes to their corresponding (and colour-coded) phone numbers, so people can easily identify which to use to make the right call.
The truth is, depending on your needs, 911 isn’t always the most efficient or effective solution. There are a host of other places to turn to to find the support you need. The right call gets you the right help.