By Laura Hipshire
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Recently, a severe storm in the city of Novi arrived with more warning than thunder and lightning. Before it hit, a new emergency notification system called Swiftreach alerted people at Fox Run of the approaching storm.

Swiftreach—an Erickson cornerstone
Erickson has made the Swiftreach system a standard part of security’s policy and procedure at all of its communities. It started at Cedar Crest in Pompton Plains, N.J.

According to the company website, the Swiftreach system can be accessed from anywhere via telephone, Internet, or PDA to instantly notify a targeted population via telephone, e-mail, text message, or pager of police emergencies, natural disasters, or terrorist threats.

Ready for action
“Many situations exist in which a government agency needs to contact the members of its community. These situations can vary from school closings to weather emergencies to terrorist threats. Previously, emergency notification solutions were either too expensive, requiring significant capital investment, or too labor-intensive, requiring municipal workers to make individual phone calls or go door-to-door,” the website (www.swiftreach.com) explains.

“The Swiftreach system is essentially a reverse 911 system in that we notify residents of an emergency instead of them calling 911 to report one,” says Jeff Jacobs, Fox Run’s emergency services manager.

“Once an emergency message is activated, resident or staff groups are notified via phone of a pre-recorded or custom-recorded emergency action message, such as a tornado warning or hazardous material incident,” Jacobs says.

Emergencies only
In order to maintain its effectiveness as an emergency notification tool, the system won’t be used for disseminating common or daily information such as menus and mail status.