Red Cross Chapter Mobilizes Volunteers
Stephanie Jordan, Messaging Newswire, Messaging News
September 06, 2006 – While weather predictions seem to show Tropical Storm Florence is not a direct threat, storm watchers are keeping a close eye on the mid-Atlantic hurricane. State emergency officials and organizations like the American Red Cross have to prepare for the worst. MessageOne, Inc. reports the American Red Cross of Central Florida recently selected and activated its AlertFind emergency notification service to automate the chapter's frequent need for urgent communications to its team of 1,500 on-call volunteers.
With the new system in place, the Red Cross Chapter can mobilize volunteers to respond to emergencies in minutes, while it used to require several days of staff making individual phone calls. “The efficiencies of using AlertFind for our emergency notification have enhanced our ability to respond and serve our communities,” explains Becky Sebren, Director of Emergency Services for the American Red Cross of Central Florida. “With over a thousand volunteers and dozens of incidents requiring response, the need to streamline and automate emergency communications became immediate. We have not only reduced our outgoing communications to volunteers from days to mere minutes, but we have also gained more effective control of our communications -- allowing us to know the details of who is responding, the county they live in, and to pinpoint volunteers with specific training. Days, hours and minutes really do matter in a crisis situation and now we can make decisions on staffing emergencies quickly and accurately with up-to-date information.”
With just one phone call or email message to initiate the process, AlertFind automatically sends out thousands of emergency alerts to designated recipients to inform them of the crisis situation and provide instructions for next steps. With AlertFind, the Red Cross not only sends out rapid information, but with the two-way communications feature, they are assured that messages have actually been delivered and acknowledged by the recipients. If the first method of contact does not work, the system automatically tries alternate methods of communications as set by the individual (home phone, cell phone, email, wireless email device, pager, etc.).
