PURVIS Systems Emergency Notification System (ENS) Adopted by the American Red Cross RI Chapter to Notify Volunteers of Emergency Situations
Middletown, RI, September 5, 2007 – PURVIS Systems Incorporated, an IT systems and service provider for the public safety, emergency management and defense industries, today announced that the American Red Cross Rhode Island Chapter recently implemented PURVIS Systems’ Emergency Notification System (ENS) as a means to quickly and efficiently contact volunteers and request their assistance during emergency situations. The organization has already successfully utilized the system during staged and actual emergency scenarios.
PURVIS ENS is a secure web-based system that enables officers, first responders and emergency personnel to send and receive mass notification of an emergency within minutes. Should an emergency or a critical breech in security take place, RI Airport Police officials are able to create an alert and deliver it to multiple people with the push of a single button. Recipients will receive the message in the manner of their choosing, with the option of responding immediately, ensuring that no vital connections are missed.
A secure system that enables key officials, first responders and emergency personnel to send and receive mass notifications rapidly, PURVIS ENS allows the Rhode Island Chapter to pass along specific, critical information to groups of volunteers or to volunteer captains, who can then accurately determine how many and which of the State’s more than 600 volunteers should be called into action. Bypassing the traditional phone tree method of notification allows the organization’s leadership to spend significantly less time notifying volunteers and more time thoroughly addressing each emergency situation.
“With only nine full-time staff members but a cache of more than 600 dedicated volunteers, there is very little time to spend trying to track down every volunteer and pass along necessary information about an emergency,” said John Holt, the chapter’s chief executive officer. ”PURVIS ENS makes it possible to not only contact all of our volunteers but also to track which of those volunteers actually received a message. The user-friendly system makes it easy for the volunteer captains to communicate with groups using whichever technology they are most comfortable with, whether that be email, voice, text message or another method. Our organization is more efficient thanks to the use of PURVIS ENS and, as a result, we are even better positioned to meet the emergency response needs of the Rhode Island community.”
Once the PURVIS ENS was implemented, the Red Cross Rhode Island Chapter used the system during a recent hurricane evacuation drill, in which the organization’s recorded response times were considered well above average against other statewide Red Cross chapters. Shortly after, the PURVIS ENS was successfully used to request volunteer assistance to aid those affected by a major fire emergency in Westerly, RI.
PURVIS ENS enables volunteers the option of being notified through a variety of channels, including text message, e-mail and/or phone call. Volunteer captains select who the message is being sent to, and after one call, those selected volunteers are notified on their requested method of contact; a time-saving alternative to making each phone call separately or relying on the traditional phone tree.
Within moments of an alert being placed, volunteers receive a message with specific information. Recipients can then rapidly respond to volunteer captains and inform them if they are able to assist with the emergency. A tracking mechanism within the PURVIS ENS system also enables volunteer captains to determine if the message was received. In addition to volunteers, the Rhode Island Chapter can use PURVIS ENS to notify local agencies, such as food banks and the Salvation Army, to request assistance during emergencies.
“The difference between an urgent situation and a true catastrophe for a community affected by a hurricane, fire, or other emergency can often depend on the timely response of volunteer organizations such as the American Red Cross,” said John Desposito, president, PURVIS Systems. “As members of the Rhode Island community, we are honored to provide our extremely effective Emergency Notification System to the Red Cross Rhode Island Chapter. With the PURVIS ENS, proven and useable technology is able to address an age-old challenge that can often take away from a humanitarian organization’s ability to conduct its true mission of preventing, preparing for and responding to emergencies.”
About PURVIS ENS
A secure and customizable system for key officials, first responders and emergency personnel, the PURVIS ENS: