Submitted by Mike Grenville on Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:53

Text messaging sevices from PageOne will be used by the British Red Cross Society in South West England to respond to emergencies more effectively.

The organisations response teams in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and the Channel Islands will use SMS to alert volunteers and reduce its emergency response time to Emergency Services and Local Authorities during major incidents.

Traditionally, the British Red Cross would have undertaken a phone-round to see which volunteers were available to offer emergency support and then another phone-round to deploy volunteers, which inevitably can lead to time-delays.

A pilot scheme was undertaken by the British Red Cross in the South West to test PageOne's paging system and prove its resilience and capability to its staff and volunteers. A training package was then produced for experienced staff and volunteers who manage all requests from the emergency services or local authorities.

"During the pilot phase, the paging system was extremely well received from both staff and volunteers who not only saw it as an enabler and invaluable tool in allowing them to respond immediately and effectively" said John Blake, Emergency Response Assistant, British Red Cross.

PageOne's technology has already been used to good effect to alert additional First Aiders during the heavy rains at the recent Glastonbury festival, and, during the summer flooding in Gloucestershire, the system again proved invaluable in mobilising teams to support the evacuation of those flooded and subsequently with distribution of food and water.