WAVERLEY: Students in Grade 2 at Waverley Memorial Elementary School (WMES) had a special visitor to their classroom in late October.
Halifax District RCMP Const. Craig Foley, the community policing officer and school resource officer for the Lockview family of schools, made a presentation to the classes. He started off by asking the students—which included five Grade 1 students—if they knew what 911 was.
“When we talk about 911 we know its for emergencies, right?” Foley asked the students, to which they nodded. “I always say there’s three people we can get with 911. With hands can someone tell me what is one of the people we can get when we call 911.”
One little student was picked after putting his hand up in the air. His response was “you can get a fire truck.”
“We can get the fire department and firefighters are really useful because they don’t just fight fires,” he said. “They help at car accidents, missing or injured people in the woods. They have a lot of really neat gear, from boats to rescue vehicles and special equipment to help find and rescue people.”
Const. Foley asked the kids for a second group they could get by calling 911. A young, shy like girl said in a soft-spoken voice “an ambulance.”
“They can come to a scene and treat people, and then take those people to a hospital for further treatment from a doctor,” he said.
And of course the third group you can get are the police.
“We can come and help out at emergencies, if people need us and it’s an emergency situation people can call 911,” said Const. Foley.
“Those are the three main people you can get a hold of if you need them.”
Const. Foley explained when you call 911 the kids didn’t need to worry about what they need because that will be left to the nice dispatcher on the other end. He asked the kids if they knew what their civic addresses were, to which most said they did.
“What’s going to happen is when you call and operator, either a man or woman, will pick up the phone and will ask you some very basic and easy questions,” he said. “They’re going to ask you what your name is; where you’re calling from; and what’s happening.
“They will decide if you a policeman, a firefighter, or an ambulance. Sometimes you may need a couple of them or you might need all of them. That’s the dispatcher’s decision.”
He told the students there are scenarios where you don’t need to call 911.
“Would you call 911 if our dog is lost and we can’t find him?” Const. Foley asked, to a chorus of no’s from the kids. “Would we call 911 if we were in an argument with our brother or sister?” There was another no response from the students.
“Sometimes there are calls that we get at 911 that should not be made to 911,” said Const. Foley. “Always remember that 911 is for things like fire; someone’s really badly injured, if there’s a medical emergency, or if you think you need police because something dangerous has taken place.
“That’s why you call 911. It’s for emergencies only.”
As important as the information in the presentation was, the highlight for many of the kids wasn’t likely that but rather the tour of the police cruiser after the presentation. At least, the looks on the faces of the kids said so.
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com