Emergency Notification System
Evangel University officials conducted a systemwide test of its new emergency notification system yesterday (12/17/07). Nearly 2,300 students, faculty, staff and vendors received simultaneous voice, text and e-mail notifications of the test.
“The technology side of the test worked,” said George Crawford, vice president for business and finance, and chair of the Crisis Management Team. “As expected, there are some details that need to be adjusted, and that is precisely why we ran the test.”
As part of the campus safety plan, Evangel has contracted with AMTELCO to purchase RED Alert, a real-time emergency notification system.
In choosing an emergency communication system best suited for Evangel’s needs, members of the Crisis Management Team reviewed available products, attended professional conference sessions, consulted with local law enforcement experts and solicited feedback from other institutions regarding the products they have chosen.
“We believe we have selected an outstanding product from a company with a long history of successful service in this field,” said Crawford.
The system includes automatic contact options for calls to cellular, home or office phones, e-mail messages, paging and fax machines.
Evangel’s Crisis Management Team has developed disaster plans, and in the event of an emergency, the RED Alert system will be activated to automatically contact students and other appropriate individuals.
“Our database now has cell phone numbers for 98 percent of students,” said Pam Smallwood, project coordinator for the implementation of RED Alert.
Emergency situations include major natural or manmade disasters occurring both inside and outside the University, such as weather emergencies, damaged facilities, blackouts, equipment or plant failures, fires, active shooter on campus, bomb threats and more.
“The RED Alert system is only one of several components of the emergency alert systems that are being acquired and implemented,” Crawford said. “Other means of enhancing campus security are being considered by the Crisis Management Team.”
For more information about RED Alert, contact Pam Smallwood at (417) 865-2811 ext. 7335.
Method for Contacting Students in Case of Emergency
- A security dispatcher, authorized by a member of the Crisis Management Team, will activate the alerts.
- Students will receive an e-mail sent to their Evangel and personal (if provided) e-mail addresses concurrent with text and voice messages to their cell phones (if provided).
- Once an alert has been issued, the University will be able to monitor progress in real time, seeing both successful and unsuccessful notifications as they happen.
