Outreach Expanded to include Cell Phones and Email 
Baton Rouge, LA --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- August 16, 2007 - With the busiest period of hurricane season approaching, Mayor Melvin L. “Kip” Holden today announced a new system of emergency response outreach to notify the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish by residential, business or cell phone as well as email, text message or devices for the hearing and speech impaired.
“New technology brings new ways to assure that every citizen is notified when an emergency occurs,” Mayor Holden said. “No longer is the home telephone the most effective way to reach a highly mobile society, so it’s important that we keep up with the changing needs of our community.”
East Baton Rouge Parish has selected Connect-CTY to provide a system that will allow parish officials to notify citizens through voice and text messages and to allow residents to sign up unlisted numbers for emergency contact through the city-parish website, BRgov.com.
“We are the first city in Louisiana to adopt the Connect-CTY service,” Holden said, “again putting Baton Rouge at the forefront of utilizing advanced technology in emergency response.”
Test calls to businesses currently in the database are scheduled for Friday, August 17th around 4:30 p.m. and test calls to residential numbers currently in the database will begin at 6:30 p.m. Residents will receive a message from Mayor Holden indicating the call is testing to assure their number is in the system.
The city is now collecting e-mail addresses, cell phone and unlisted landline numbers to also be included in the Connect-CTY communication service. Additionally, the city is requesting that citizens alert the city should they wish to receive messages via their TTY/TDD receiving device for the hearing impaired.
Primary residential and business phones in Baton Rouge have been automatically included in the system. Residents can opt-in to have their unlisted contact information included for emergency notifications by visiting the Baton Rouge website (brgov.com) and clicking on the “Emergency Information” link on the left side of the home page, then the link that says “SIGN UP NOW – SERVICES BY CONNECT-CTY” to enter additional information into the secure database.
“The lessons of Hurricane Katrina and Rita taught us how critical it is to communicate with our citizens during emergencies,” Holden said. “It’s important that we be able to notify residents through multiple means of communication to assure that we get life-saving information to them. This system allows us to communicate at any given moment or location and will serve as a reliable, effective tool in Baton Rouge’s emergency planning and preparedness.”
East Baton Rouge Parish officials can also keep track of which telephone numbers were not reached should follow up or additional assistance be required with a report on the results of outgoing messages that is sent to city-parish administrators immediately upon availability.
“With the Connect-CTY service, city administrators can target messages to groups for everything from mobilizing emergency response teams to notifying key department heads on our own staff,” said Joanne Moreau, Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness of Baton Rouge. ”
Authorized officials also can use a map on the Connect-CTY system to contact specific geographical locations, sending messages only to select Baton Rouge communities or even neighborhoods. “
Source: Baton Rouge City Press Release
Baton Rouge Mayor Announces New Emergency Notification System
