The end of Hurricane Season is approaching for the Southeastern United States, and while it has been mostly uneventful this year I am reminded of when that was not the case just a few years ago. Hurricane Wilma ripped a path across Broward County at Category 3 strength in 2005. The power grid was severely damaged, many roofs were damaged or destroyed, and communication lines were down.
While small pockets of the county had power and phone service restored within hours, large swaths remained without power for weeks and months. Services were hard to come by, and venturing out on the roads was dangerous with so much debris and no working street lights. How a church plans for and responds to such a crisis depends on effective communication. While there are many things you can do to prepare, there is one simple tool that can be of enormous value.
When a disaster or a loss of power occurs, a simple and very effective tool is remote access voice-mail.
How to use Voice-mail for Emergency Preparedness and Response
- First, if you do not have an emergency preparation and response plan that covers a broad range of man-made and natural situations… “git ‘er dun!”
- Decide what parts of your plan need to understood by your congregation. Most of the time simply knowing that the church has a plan (and not necessarily all the details of it) is enough. Communication, or more accurately how the church plans to maintain communication after/during a disaster is the most important thing.
- Make a concerted effort to inform the most needy members of your congregation and their family members about the church’s plans and how these plans can help them communicate during an emergency if normal lines of communication are disrupted. Think of your church’s physical location and communications systems as the central “place” to meet after a disaster.
- Voice-mail can behave as a “place” especially if you use it right. Have a response team assemble a few times during the year to evaluate the plan. For the purposes of utilizing voice-mail after a disaster have two or more emergency radios that come with features like the ability to charge cell phones. You will need this to call in remotely to the church’s voice-mail account.
- If it appears that a hurricane is indeed going to hit your area, for example, record a “greeting” message that informs people that they have reached the emergency information line (be sure not to call it a hotline so that people don’t assume you are staffing the line with operators). Provide concise, but not endless information.
- Let callers know up front when the message was recorded, and close the message with an estimated time for when the next message will be recorded.
- Example:
“You have reached the emergency information line for First Church of the City. If you would like to leave a message please press (number, #, or * sign). This recorded message is dated for Monday, November 29, 2010 at 7:15 A.M. Our regular service times and office hours have been suspended in light of Hurricane Alpha. All announcements and changes to service times will be updated regularly on this phone line. This is not an emergency contact number and messages are being checked when possible. If you need immediate assistance please dial 9-1-1. Other useful numbers are the Broward County Emergency Management Division at 1-800-555-5555, the Florida State Watch Office at 1-800-555-5555, or tune your radio to WIOD 610 AM for news and information. [You will want to keep the first part general and relatively consistent, and follow it with a regularly updated message.] The following message was recorded on Monday, November 29, 2010 at 7:15 A.M. …[message]… The next scheduled update will be recorded Monday, November 29, 2010 at 8:00 P.M. Thank you for calling First Church of the City.
- Example:
- One of the better features about voice-mail as opposed to an answering machine (other than the fact that a machine would need a power source) is that such long messages can be bypassed by people who have already heard the latest announcement. All they need to do is press the right number to be taken to the prompt for leaving their message in one of the mailboxes you have setup.
Full Disclosure Notice
It is not my custom to promote a specific company’s product, and I would only do so if I had absolute confidence in the product or service being provided. If I am going to promote voice-mail as a highly effective communications tool in emergencies it is only because I believe AT&T can provide the level of effectiveness which I highly recommend you have in your communications tool box. In the interest of full disclosure I have been an AT&T employee, and have relatives who have been or are employed by AT&T. As of this writing, I am a contractor for AT&T in a non-sales related position, and I am not being asked or paid by AT&T to write this blog entry.
Benefits of voice-mail from AT&T
- Anyone with a cell phone and access code can retrieve messages and record “greetings” that give essential updates to members needing information. Utilize and inform your members that your voice-mail message will be updated regularly after a disaster with important information, including emergency services phone numbers and/or ways to help those in need and when and where volunteers can report.
- As long as you do not have a device that stores messages then voice-mail from AT&T will keep your messages for you at the central office. There are central offices located all over the country and serve as the routing stations or “home” for your phone number. Unless the computer server physically located in the central office is also impacted by the disaster your messages are safe.
- AT&T provides essential emergency resources to all their central offices, and places a very high priority on getting their systems back up and running quickly after a disaster.
If you use voice-mail from AT&T you can rest assured that it will work. If it isn’t working, then something has gone wrong with the physical hardware and AT&T is working hard to fix it. Without a functioning network emergency responders and medical facilities won’t have working phone service. It is therefore imperative that AT&T get its network up and running ASAP after a disaster – lives are at stake. I can personally testify that no other company has the commitment or resources to ensuring timely restoration of services in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
