Tendenci® - FIRST RESPONDER INTEGRATION
Profiles and Email Notifications:
Communications during a crisis or in advance of an anticipated crisis are critical to maintaining control within an organization. Web sites are becoming the primary tool in the communications mix for organizations and businesses alike, and for a good reason: Web sites allow for distributed communication to the “masses.”
For those with email, Tendenci allows web based volunteer sign up profiling of first responders. So the users can indicate, or an administrator can indicate, their unique set of first responder skills. A crisis calls for a wide variety of skills from paramedic training, to search and rescue to truck drivers. Each is unique and if you need to use the portal to locate someone within your organization with that exact first responder skill set for emergency response, Tendenci allows you to do that.
And all communication is prioritized to go to first responders first. The theory being that it is more important to tell the hospital and Paul Revere about an oncoming storm because they will in turn tell more people and hasten the delivery of the message. This matters if you are sending 100,000 notifications to your site users as they can only be delivered as fast as the receiving email servers or phone lines, so if you can deliver the first 50 to the most critical people you increase the likelihood of a well organized and successful crisis response.
Telephone and Pager Notification Integration:
But what if not all members of your community have a computer or an email address? How do you reach them?
In working to help Houston’s Fifth Ward community integrate a security-focused application on their Web site, Schipul partnered with Dialogic Communications Corporation (DCC) to integrate its Communicator! NXT software with Tendenci on the 5th Ward HP/i-Community Portal to deliver a state-of-the-art high-speed emergency notification system.
This high-speed public safety pilot includes capabilities to issue First Responder Alerts through the portal by alerting police and firefighters first, and then the rest of the community, during potentially life-threatening situations.
By working together, Tendenci and Communicator! NXT also automate communications between school personnel and parents and can warn neighborhoods of potential risks, such as chemical leaks and sex offender notices.
The tools also work together in non-emergency situations to enhance the frequency and quality of communications between school personnel and parents so they can more proactively monitor situations influencing a child’s performance in school.
Volunteer Coordination:
Many elements of Tendenci are ideal for handling distributed notifications and volunteer portal management. Setting up events with limited attendees is a great way to manage your volunteer resources so you have the PEOPLE you need, but also in the RIGHT LOCATION at the RIGHT TIME. One click to run the roster allows your volunteer coordinators to easily see who to expect.
Tendenci also supports a social services software module for non profits to provide emergency social services check-in through your web site.
RSS 
and 
Podcasting are built in at the lowest levels to help time shift volunteer notifications based on their skills and availability. All associations are moving towards virtualization and those with a high density of first responder skills are probably at the head of the curve based on necessity!
Volunteers and evacuees can make use of the forums software as well to match up geographically dispersed people and needs.
For more information about Tendenci's first responder capabilities, contact us today.
