911 in Haliburton County

It's the fastest way to get medical assistance, but in the last few years more than half of the calls to 911 both here in Haliburton and across the province are for non-emergencies. CBC Radio recently played actual calls to 911 to highlight some of the frivolous reasons people call for help, including one where a woman called 911 because she dropped her phone in a snowbank.That's why Mike Slatter, who heads up the Haliburton County Paramedic Service, is urging local residents to understand that while the paramedic service is always ready to respond, calling 911 for non-emergencies hampers its ability to answer the call for more serious and urgent cases.In Haliburton County, people are calling for what Slatter refers to as ‘non-acute' reasons and in doing so, take away the resources intended for real emergencies. Slatter sat down with CanoeFM recently to discuss the problem and offer solutions.