This isn't just about directing the pizza delivery to your late night study session. It's about being able to tell the 9-1-1 operator where the emergency is happening.
A student died at the University of Victoria and one of the contributing factors appears to be the inability of the 9-1-1 operator to get paramedics to the right building on campus. This is the quote from the CBC story:
The other day I was faced with a similar situation to what happened at UVIC -- but the outcome was better, thankfully. A student had a medical emergency during a final exam and I had to phone 9-1-1. When asked where the paramedics should be sent, I was stumped. The Lassonde Engineering Building, where the emergency happened, doesn't have a street address that I know of and the 9-1-1 operator didn't know it either. Telling the operator that it's at 4700 Keele Street didn't help. And saying "It's off of Ottawa Road" was no better.
In the end, the paramedics ended up on the wrong side of campus -- on Pond Road -- and a follow-up call from emergency services dispatch allowed me to direct them to Arboretum Lane and then I escorted the paramedics from the Bergeron Building to the Lassonde Building.
My inability to pinpoint the location of the emergency resulted in a delay in getting the paramedics on scene. That's not acceptable. I need to do better the next time that there's an emergency.
This can't be the first time that emergency services have had trouble getting dispatched to a particular location at the University.
It's time that we fix the problem before something as tragic as what happened at UVic happens here at YorkU. It's time for street / civic addresses on all of our buildings.
James Andrew Smith is a Professional Engineer and Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of York University’s Lassonde School, with degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta and McGill University. Previously a program director in biomedical engineering, his research background spans robotics, locomotion, human birth, music and engineering education. While on sabbatical in 2018-19 with his wife and kids he lived in Strasbourg, France and he taught at the INSA Strasbourg and Hochschule Karlsruhe and wrote about his personal and professional perspectives. James is a proponent of using social media to advocate for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion as well as evidence-based applications of research in the public sphere. You can find him on Twitter. You can find him on BlueSky. Originally from Québec City, he now lives in Toronto, Canada.