Testing to Ensure Residents are Ready to Receive Important Messages
NEW CANAAN, CT--[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- September 24th. The Town of New Canaan announced it has arranged with the mass communication provider Connect-CTY for a service that provides town officials the ability to communicate with all residents regarding time-sensitive matters, such as emergencies and important planned and unforeseen events.
This important tool allows town officials to send and track personalized voice messages to thousands of residents, businesses, and local officials in just minutes. The service requires no additional hardware; it can be used from any computer with Internet access or telephone, ensuring that officials can send vital messages from wherever they are located. Messages can be sent by email, text-messaging-to-cell-phones as well as by voice to the recipient’s primary phone. The town also can track homes that were reached with a report on the results of outgoing messages. The system is provided by the company that provides a similar alert notification service for the New Canaan School District.
“Quick, accurate communication in an emergency situation has an impact on safety,” said James Cole, Emergency Management Director and Chair of the New Canaan Police Commission. “Having a fully-featured system that allows us to send messages to the community through several modes of contact will enhance our likelihood of reaching all residents, whether they are at home, work or out of town.” “With Connect-CTY, we have the capacity to immediately inform the entire community, or just affected neighborhoods, regarding time-sensitive matters of public interest, such as flooding, a gas leak or missing person,” Cole said.
Town administrators can target messages to an unlimited number of groups – everything from mobilizing emergency response teams to notifying necessary department heads. Authorized users also can use a map on the Connect-CTY system to contact specific geographical locations, sending messages only to select neighborhoods when needed.
Primary residential and business phones in New Canaan will automatically be included in the system. However, residents can opt-in to provide their complete information (up to three phone numbers and two e-mail addresses for each registered user) by visiting the New Canaan Web site (www.newcanaan.info) and clicking on the indicated link to enter their information into the secure database. Families can make each member a registered user. Those without Internet access can have their information added into the system by calling the Emergency Operations Center at (203) 594-4100 and leaving a recorded message. Residents with call blocking services can ensure they can receive the town’s time-sensitive calls by adding (203) 594-3000 to their approved number list.
“The best way to keep residents safe is through communication, and this service makes it easy,” reported Mr. Cole. “With the Connect-CTY service, administrators have a powerful tool for mass communication without having to purchase new computers, software and telephone lines.”
New Canaan will be conducting its first test-call on Sept. 28, in order to ensure all residents who would like to be included in the system are given a chance to correct their phone numbers. If residents do not receive the call, they should visit the town’s Web site at www.newcanaan.info and click on the indicated link to enter their contact information into the Connect-CTY database.
Residents without Internet access can have their information added into the database by calling (203) 594-4100 and leaving a recorded message.
Jim Cole, town director of emergency preparedness and chairman of the Police Commission was quoted in The Norwalk Advocate on October 6, 2007 as saying "New Canaan contracted with NTI for one year at a cost of $17,500."
Source: Town of New Canaan Press Release
