The family of a man who died two weeks ago in the Rural Municipality of Fisher are still in shock after not being able to reach 911, and they want an investigation carried out to determine what went wrong.
Dean Switzer, who was 55, died on Sunday, March 23 after more than an hour’s delay in which his wife and friends repeatedly called 911 on their cellphones and failed to connect to emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. A local RCMP officer whom they were able to reach using their cellphones connected with EMS and got an ambulance to the Switzers’ residence, which is about 19 kilometres north of Fisher Branch.
Dean’s dad, Ray Switzer, spoke on behalf of the family about his son’s tragic death, wondering if Dean could have been saved had they been able to reach a 911 operator – and if, given the paramedic staffing crisis, there would have been an ambulance available to respond in a timely manner.
“It was disastrous. We had 20-plus calls going to 911 and not once were they answered. Nobody answered. We got messages that kept saying to hang up and call back,” said Switzer. “That’s all we got.”
Dean’s wife tried to keep her husband breathing as she repeatedly called 911, and Dean’s friends took turns performing CPR. The wife of one of Dean’s friends was able to dial out on her cellphone and reach a local RCMP officer she knew. That officer was able to alert 911, said Switzer. The officer was the “only way” they were able to get an ambulance to the scene, but it was too late to save Dean. Had they been able to get through to 911, Dean might have been saved.
“The RCMP are a fine bunch of people. I have no animosity towards the RCMP or to the first responders that came. They did the best they could do,” said Switzer. “When my son’s two friends got there to help, they kept dialling 911 but there was no help to be had. I’m still in a lot of shock.”
Switzer said he and his wife had been at their son’s home earlier that day and Dean was just fine. He had been working on building a box for fishing and camping gear that could slide in and out of his truck.
“Dean was always busy doing something and he was so upbeat that day. We had coffee about 3:30 or so and we left to come home to Fisher Branch. A quarter after six, my daughter-in-law phoned and she said, ‘Dad, you have to come, Dean is dying.’ So we went back out there. By the time we got there, the RCMP were there and they worked on him as well,” said Switzer. “My wife … said she can’t get the picture out of her head of Dean; they had him laid out on the floor, doing CPR on him.”
Switzer said the Rural Municipality of Fisher, Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson and Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman MP James Bezan are helping his family figure out why they and the friends who helped them were unable to reach 911, which provides service to the Fisher Branch area from the dispatch centre in Brandon. One of the friends who had repeatedly dialled 911 – about eight or more times – was subsequently charged for about four of those calls, yet hadn’t been able to connect.
It’s not the first time rural residents have had issues connecting with 911. The Express reported on some 911 calls being dropped in the Arborg-Bifrost area (see Aug. 29, 2024 edition online).
The Switzer family wants to know what went wrong in their case and how it can be prevented in future. Switzer said he questions the provincial government’s spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on certain initiatives when it should be ensuring the 911 service is failsafe and that paramedic numbers are increased in the Interlake and other areas of the province. He found it unacceptable that an RM of Gimli man had to wait seven days for an ambulance to get transferred to Winnipeg for an angiogram.
Although an investigation won’t do Dean any good, it might help somebody else, he said.
“I never want to see this happen to another family. We pay for EMS service and I can’t understand why the 911 calls would not go through,” said Switzer. “It’s a helpless feeling when you can’t get assistance.”
A spokesperson for the RCMP said the officer who was called to the Switzers’ home “immediately assisted with life-saving measures” and did not call 911. Rather, he used his radio and connected with the telecoms centre, saying he required EMS on scene. The officer performed CPR on Dean and stayed with him until EMS arrived.
The service declined to name the officer.
“We understand the family might possibly like to reach out to this officer that assisted on that day, however, he prefers to not be named,” said the spokesperson.
The RM of Fisher’s reeve Shannon Pyziak said she, council and municipal staff extend their condolences to the Switzer family and are doing what they can to ensure this doesn’t happen to another family.
“Dean was a friend and colleague of staff and council, and we wish to express our deepest sympathy to the family. We cannot imagine the anguish they experienced, and we commit to doing what we can do to make sure that this does not happen to another family,” said Pyziak.
The RM contacted the 911 service provider as soon as it heard about Dean, and had in the past expressed its concerns about 911 services.
“When notified of the family’s inability to reach 911 during their emergency, we immediately contacted the 911 service provider. We informed them of the family’s concerns, our concerns and requested an investigation and response to this incident,” said the reeve. “As recently as last fall, the RM of Fisher had expressed their concerns to the Province of Manitoba and the RCMP about 911 services. We will be following up again with the Province and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities regarding this situation and the need to ensure that 911 has the resources to provide services for individuals and families who need immediate assistance. In addition, we will also address the need for cell-service providers to have procedures in place to ensure that their services provide access 24 hours a day to 911.”
Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson (Conservative) extended his heartfelt condolences to the Switzer family for the loss of Dean.
“I can’t image what it’s like to have a loved one facing a medical emergency and having a system we rely on not work,” said Johnson. “That is unacceptable.”
He’s unaware of a death having occurred in the past in the rural area as a result of not being able to contact 911, he said, but he is aware of “poor” cell service in which people couldn’t get through.
Johnson said he and his staff are trying to determine where the system “fell apart,” whether it lies with Manitoba’s EMS’ system, with Bell MTS, which operate the communications infrastructure, or with Telus, which uses that infrastructure to route calls.
“We can’t just say this was a tragedy and not look into the cause of it. We need to follow through and find out what happened and prevent this from happening to another family,” said Johnson.
As a point of safety, Johnson said all cellphones – even old cellphones without a SIM card that people keep around the house – should connect to 911 through a provider.
The Express reached out to provincial Shared Health to ask whether there was an issue with the EMS system that day, whether there had been other instances this year in which Interlakers were unable to connect with a 911 operator, and how it’s addressing the tragedy. It did not respond by deadline.
The Express reached out to telecommunications providers Bell and Telus for information about possible disruptions to their respective services that would have prevented people from connecting with 911.
Bell media relations spokesperson Jessica Benzinger said there were no issues with the 911 service and the Brandon-based 911 agency on March 23, but calls from Telus to the Brandon 911 agency were not reaching Bell’s network.
“9-1-1 service and Brandon 9-1-1 Agency in Manitoba (which services the Fisher Branch area) was fully operational on the day in question (March 23). Emergency calls from Bell customers and nine other service providers serving the area in question were successfully processed and delivered to the PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Point) on that day,” said Benzinger. “However, we are aware that 9-1-1 calls from Telus destined to Brandon 9-1-1 Agency in Manitoba were not reaching the Bell 9-1-1 network on March 23 and are investigating the incident in question in collaboration with Telus to understand the root cause.”
Telus did not respond by deadline.
