Central Virginia Community College Raises Public Safety

CVCC considering the text messaging system for student recruitment

LEESBURG, VA --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- January 31, 2007 – Omnilert, LLC, maker of a mass notification system for higher education called e2Campus, today announced that Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) has activated the e2Campus mass notification system to raise public safety for the entire campus community. CVCC is using the web-based service to communicate urgent news to students, faculty and staff whether recipients are in class, on campus, or miles away.

John K. Poole, VP of Finance for CVCC explains, "As a relatively new user of e2Campus, our focus has been on getting public safety or emergency communications out to everyone instantly no matter where they may be."

How It Works
Using e2Campus’ centralized interface, a CVCC school official types a message, selects the groups to receive the message, and then presses a button to send it. Within seconds, the message is simultaneously sent to thousands of relevant people via the method each recipient chose to receive it, such as a mobile phone (SMS text message), Blackberry, personal or school email account, RSS feed, or relevant school web pages.

Westchester County Extending Its Communications Reach to the Public

White Plains, NY --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- January 29, 2007 - In late 2005, Westchester County officials introduced an initiative to better reach citizens in the event of an emergency. Communications capabilities have now been expanded to alert area residents of any large-scale, critical situation by email, text and phone.

Using Dialogic’s Communicator! NXT, Westchester County can get in touch with first responders, local officials, volunteers and the like using all available communications devices. In order to have this same reach with the general public, should a major emergency occur, the County has launched a web page, http://www.westchestergov.com/cens/, to collect various contact information.

Once at Westchester County’s site, residents, businesses and not-for-profit agencies will find their own link for registration. Here they can submit cell, work and home phone numbers as well as email addresses, all of which will remain confidential. The data is then downloaded by County officials and imported into Communicator! NXT.

Andy Spano, County Executive, explains, “If people give us their email addresses and phone numbers, we will have a number of options when it comes to getting information out. We will also be able to communicate directly just as we now do with our emergency responders, local officials and the media.”

Should time permit, the Department of Emergency Services will now be able to send direct notice to the public about pending inclement weather, including blizzards and other major storms. Information can also be provided immediately following the emergency regarding issues such as road or health hazards, supplies, re-entry to damaged areas and more.

About Westchester County
Westchester County covers an area of 450 square miles and has a diverse population residing in 45 municipalities. Its geographical setting is a favorable one, with the Long Island Sound and Connecticut on the east and the Hudson River on the west. As one of the nation's most affluent counties with per capita income well above state and national levels, it has retained much of its rural character while adopting the urban and suburban lifestyles reflected by its proximity to New York City. For more information, visit www.westchestergov.com.

Indian Health Service employs Send Word Now service to Coordinate Largest Mass Vaccination Exercise in U.S.

Service Provides Communication and Coordination to deliver Flu Vaccines to 24,000 Community Members

New York, NY, --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- January 22, 2007 - Send Word Now™, a provider of on-demand alerting and response services,today announced that the Indian Health Service (IHS) has used its core SWN Alert Service and Incident Management Service to communicate and coordinate resources during a recent mass vaccination of more than 24,000 community members on one day

The Navajo Area IHS and the Navajo Nation Division of Health conducted the largest mass vaccination exercise in the United States at sixteen different points throughout Arizona and New Mexico. The plan included the real-time flu vaccination of more than 24,000 community members at sixteen sites. Approximately fifty partners participated in this exercise including three states, three counties, seven Native Nations and various federal organizations.

The Navajo Area IHS used the Send Word Now Smart Alert and Incident Management Services as the primary means of managing resources and communication during the flu vaccination exercise and also used the exercise to practice their capability to conduct mass vaccinations in the case of a disaster or emergency such as pandemic influenza. The Indian Health Service is a subscriber to Send Word Now’s Services, specifically using the services to handle crisis communication and coordination during a pandemic outbreak, such as the avian flu.

“We chose the Send Word Now Services to be the primary means of communication and coordination for the exercise based on its ease of use and intuitive nature,” said IHS Emergency Services Director Steve “Sid” Caesar.

Source: Vendor Press Release

Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union Uses 3n Mass Notification System for Communication During Emergencies

GLENDALE, CA --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- January 10, 2007 - 3n (National Notification Network), a mass notification system provider, today announced Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union (SCFCU) is using the 3n mass notification system to automate emergency communications with its employees. With assets totaling over $10 billion, SCFCU, the second-largest corporate credit union in the United States, must protect and maintain the reputation and assets of itself and its member credit unions in any situation, emergency or otherwise. A 3n customer since 2004, SCFCU uses the 3n system as a critical enhancement to its already-strong business continuity program.

“With employees located across the United States, the need to streamline and automate emergency communications was crucial for us,” explained Justin Lutes, Business Continuity & Operations Compliance Manager for SCFCU.

Cinta Putra, CEO and co-founder of 3n, commented, "Financial institutions are built upon a foundation of customer confidence and trust that they will protect their customers’ assets, through thick and thin. "

Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union (SCFCU) is the second largest corporate credit union in the U.S. SCFCU serves more than 1,200 credit unions nationwide and has assets of over $10 billion. As a credit union for credit unions, SCFCU offers many services, including funds management solutions and a variety of correspondent services such as Item Processing, Wire Transfer, Automated Clearing House (ACH), and Card Services. For more information, please visit www.swcorp.org.

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Publishing a Press Release, Changes and Deletions

We accept vendors into our vendor library that have emergency notification 'Client-Success' releases, and announcements from related clients with 'Introduction of Service' press releases.

Our suggestion is for vendor and clients to collaborate for the most successful press:

1) Publish your Emergency Notification Implementation Announcement Promptly.

• Send us your original press release - if we don't have to search for it? It gets published faster. We don't publish releases from copyrighted wire services.
  
• Publish your press release as an HTML file without line breaks. PDF-only is a barrier to publishing and ultimately indexing.
  
• Vendor? See #2
• Client? See #3

2) Vendors: Help your clients succeed.

• How do e.n.n. prospects contact you if they want to engage your service or acquire your product?
• After purchase, provide your clients an FAQ and a standard press release so they can publish to their city/campus page. Include instructions to forward this to emergenews(at)gmail.com.
• Issue a real press release via HTML into your press section - not a "news" section accessible only via MS i.e 7 asp browsers with links to third party news.
• Be sure to include a test plan and test metrics that you can provide to your client to publish in a press release. Provide the test results in a clear statistical read-out and and an appropriate press release template.
  
• Please omit the hyperbole. The market leaders are obvious here.
  

3) Clients: Help your end-users understand emergency notification.

• By far - the largest amount of searches during the 2007 San Diego Fires were - "SIGN UP- OPT- IN - SAN DIEGO - UCSD - PEPPERDINE - MALIBU" - that is - disaster victims looking to “opt-in” to almost-impossible-to-find database entry forms. Where do the students/city residents log in to add their cell #'s? They and we, searched and for the most part couldn't find the correct opt-in pages.
• Ask your vendor for a generic press release that allows you to publish the facts and "where-do-i-go. " We daily track down many cities that rely on local news to publish the details - however, we can’t cross-publish due to copyright restrictions. Please help.
• Be sure that your vendor includes a test plan and test metrics that you can publish in a press release. Ask for previous client test results, a sample of the test to be provided, and finally the test results in a clear statistical read-out and and an appropriate press release template.
  
• How do your constituents opt-in RIGHT-NOW during the emergency ? Add the details in your press release. Make them clear. These instructions will index here and allow your citizens to the find them in an emergency.

Send Request-for-Changes, Deletions, Press Releases or Inquiries here.

Revsion .01 - Oct 28, 2007