Alert Roster - Squadron Level Alerting

[SeattleSarge]

Looking for some lessons learned here...

My squadron is assembling a unit-wide alerting mechanism using SMS messaging on personal cellular phones.

I'm curious if other squadrons or groups have used a similar technique? 

Also, how are you building alert rosters for your units?  Are you assembling predesignated aircrews and ground crews that are launched as a team or are you assembling crews from several different units?

All examples and opinions are appreciated.

-SeattleSarge

[Bluelakes 13]

ILWG has an SMS alerting procedure.  All mission alerts get sent to a distribution list of email addresses and cell phones.  Qualified persons can respond to the IC with availability. Seems to work great.

In ILWG we also use the WMU which gives you a way to print out who is qualified/trainee in any specialty.  Produces a nice report with phone numbers.  I do not know if a similar report exists in Eservices.

[Matt]

ILWG has an SMS alerting procedure.  All mission alerts get sent to a distribution list of email addresses and cell phones.  Qualified persons can respond to the IC with availability. Seems to work great.

In ILWG we also use the WMU which gives you a way to print out who is qualified/trainee in any specialty.  Produces a nice report with phone numbers.  I do not know if a similar report exists in Eservices.

E-Services, Sort of, I think...

Also, WMU allows to page alphanumeric pagers, which I haven't tried as yet, but I believe you can use it to send the SMS to the cell phones, no different than one can send text emails to cell phones...

[Trouble]

My SQ has been using SMS for the past 18 months and it works great. Saves loads of time, not making calls, and allows each member to respond only if available.  The only down side is getting some folks to sign up for the system,   they tend to blow it off,  but they also tend to be the same group of folks that blow off the newly required (at least in MER) ICS course requirements in order to keep their 101 cards from being suspended on Oct 1st. 

[♠SARKID♠]

ILWG has an SMS alerting procedure.  All mission alerts get sent to a distribution list of email addresses and cell phones.  Qualified persons can respond to the IC with availability. Seems to work great.

In ILWG we also use the WMU which gives you a way to print out who is qualified/trainee in any specialty.  Produces a nice report with phone numbers.  I do not know if a similar report exists in Eservices.

E-Services, Sort of, I think...

Also, WMU allows to page alphanumeric pagers, which I haven't tried as yet, but I believe you can use it to send the SMS to the cell phones, no different than one can send text emails to cell phones...

Cool, I never saw that till now.

I actually like the idea of alphanumeric pagers better than cell phones for a couple reasons.  First, the batteries last a helluva lot longer.  Most pagers can be run on a AAA battery for a few months, whereas a cell phone's battery will last you a few days.  You don't have to worry about replacing the battery as often/recharging as often.  Second, modern paging is done over high power transmitters.  And, because of the frequencies used, the signal penetrates buildings much more easily so you don't have to worry about signal strength as much.  Third, mass messages can be sent all at once, rather than calling all the way down a phone tree.  Fourth, they're allowed in some areas where cell phones may not be allowed (specifically hospitals).  My mom works in the IT dept at the local hospital and everyone there uses pagers.  I dont know what the situation for aircraft would be, but its possible.  Fifth, I personally think they're flashy

The only beef I have with them is that you have to pay for a service plan.  It isnt necessarily economical to pay $25 a month to get paged for missions that happen a couple times a year.

Here's a good article to back me up
http://ezinearticles.com/?Pager-Services-Today-Are-A-Better-Buy-Than-Cell-Phones&id=643869

[_]

The same system that Capt Pumphrey (Trouble) talks about is now being adapted for use in our group.  Included in the alert roster are the GTL's.  The idea is that when a call for a missing persons search happens the GTL's are alerted and if they can form a team they call back.  This system will allow the IC or in our case the group duty officer to notify every active team leader in the group at once instead of calling each individually and only have to talk to the people that can come out immediately.  It just got set up so it hasn't been tested yet.  If it does work well, they plan to possibly extend this to the rest of the wing.

On my team I use SMS to spread info but for getting people for a mission I call.  In the middle of the night a simple text message beep may not wake them up but me calling several times will.  I have a small team so if I don't get through to a couple people I won't have enough for a team.

I do want to adopt a similar system with a SMS and email list and have some cross over into the GTL's from Capt Pumphrey's team so if a mission comes up we can call for assistance if needed to ensure we have enough people to respond.

[Trouble]

 Jon,

Maybe we can test the Group level system with the upcoming SAREX, like sending out a FRAGO prior to the info-list mailing.  BTW I'll see if I can talk Greg into setting up a SMS system for your folks and  we can work on that cross over effect between respective our teams.

[SJFedor]

  ...Fourth, they're allowed in some areas where cell phones may not be allowed (specifically hospitals).  My mom works in the IT dept at the local hospital and everyone there uses pagers... 

Never really understood the whole "cell phone in hospitals" thing. I've been in some hospitals where they're absolute nazis about it, to the point that I thought one of the RNs was going to take me down when it chirped (that it had no signal). Yet, the hospital I work in, not only are they permitted, but the hospital actually has an agreement with Sprint and has the building wired so that you can recieve a Sprint signal anywhere in the building. All our residents and attendings carry (at least) one phone, plus a pager or two. Even the staff in the ED carries phones. Our charge nurses, EMT-Ps, all of us, they hand us phones at change of shift (we call it the electronic leash).

Thing that boggles me is that they say it can interfere with the equipment. We use the same equipment in my hospital, that they use in other hospitals with the "no cell phones" rule. I have yet to have a patient arrest, go into extremis, or even have a light blink the wrong way because of a cell phone. I've seen some literature on it, but nothing concrete. Only something to the point that a vent experienced some issues when it was subjected to a massive signal over an extended period of time or something like that.

[/topic drift]

[♠SARKID♠]

  ...Fourth, they're allowed in some areas where cell phones may not be allowed (specifically hospitals).  My mom works in the IT dept at the local hospital and everyone there uses pagers... 

Never really understood the whole "cell phone in hospitals" thing. I've been in some hospitals where they're absolute nazis about it, to the point that I thought one of the RNs was going to take me down when it chirped (that it had no signal). Yet, the hospital I work in, not only are they permitted, but the hospital actually has an agreement with Sprint and has the building wired so that you can recieve a Sprint signal anywhere in the building. All our residents and attendings carry (at least) one phone, plus a pager or two. Even the staff in the ED carries phones. Our charge nurses, EMT-Ps, all of us, they hand us phones at change of shift (we call it the electronic leash).

Thing that boggles me is that they say it can interfere with the equipment. We use the same equipment in my hospital, that they use in other hospitals with the "no cell phones" rule. I have yet to have a patient arrest, go into extremis, or even have a light blink the wrong way because of a cell phone. I've seen some literature on it, but nothing concrete. Only something to the point that a vent experienced some issues when it was subjected to a massive signal over an extended period of time or something like that.

[/topic drift]

Well, its pretty much the same situation for airlines.  You cant have phones on an airplane becuase the supposedly interfere with equipment.  Whether or not they really do, I dont know, but its a precautionary measure.  Better safe than sorry I suppose.  You have to remember, much of the equipment used in hospitals is designed to pick up electrical signals made by the human body (pacemakers, electrocardiograms, etc).  These signals are extremely weak, so interference from an outside source could theoretically cause a malfunction.  Think of what might happen if a cell phone's signal was misinterpreted as arterial activity by a pacemaker.

I'm sure you already know about this, but try taking your cell phone, call your house/voice mail/etc and hold it up to the speaker of a stereo that is on, but with the volume all the way down.  You'll hear the impulses given off by your phone.  The same can be done if you hold the phone next to the cord of some headphones.  Those impulses could interfere with equipment.

The thing with pagers is that they emit no signal.  They are receivers, not transmitters, so they dont give off that interference.

[RiverAux]

I'm not a big fan of these in principle as I can't recall very many missions where there was a need to alert the whole unit.  I would rather make calls until I got the 3 people I needed for the aircrew rather than put out a page and sit on my keister waiting for people to call me.  How long do I wait before making calls on my own anyway?  And then what am I going to do with all the GT folks calling when I am only looking for an aircrew? 

I suppose you can add various codes to your page to signal specific needs, but I'd still prefer an active alerting system rather than a passive. 

[♠SARKID♠]

I'm not a big fan of these in principle as I can't recall very many missions where there was a need to alert the whole unit.  I would rather make calls until I got the 3 people I needed for the aircrew rather than put out a page and sit on my keister waiting for people to call me.  How long do I wait before making calls on my own anyway?  And then what am I going to do with all the GT folks calling when I am only looking for an aircrew? 

I suppose you can add various codes to your page to signal specific needs, but I'd still prefer an active alerting system rather than a passive. 

You can use the WMU paging system to select only an aircrew or GT or whatever you wish

[SJFedor]

Think of what might happen if a cell phone's signal was misinterpreted as arterial activity by a pacemaker.

I'd be very concerned if a pacemaker had anything to do with "arterial activity". That would be an issue of installation, not interference.  

Educational moment: pacemakers are used when the heart, obviously, isn't generating the proper signals that it needs for conduction (producing a heartbeat). The pacer is either set up to simulate the SA node (controls the contraction of the atrium), AV node (controls the contraction of the ventricles, after recieving the previous signal from the SA node), or both (known as AV pacing). They can be set up to pace 100% of the time, or only "on demand", usually when the patient's natural heartrate falls below a certain rate. My grandmom, for example, as an intrinsic heart rate of about 38, which isn't too condusive to a healthy life, so she has an AV pacer which keeps her at a constant resting rate of 60. If it's above 60, like when she's walking, the pacer doesn't fire (rate responsive pacer), because the heart is doing it's own thing, but once she rests, if it gets to that magic number, it begins to fire.

Pacers are not to be confused with ICD's (Internal Cardioverter-Defibrillators). Those are implanted to give a little bigger jolt to kick out dysrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia "V-tach", ventricular fibrillation "V-fib", etc) Some people have a pacer/defib combo, some just have one or the other, depending on their needs.

So, on an EKG (although they're getting less and less noticable with new technology) you'll see a little spike either on the P wave (the beginning of the heartbeat, where the atrium contracts), the beginning of the QRS complex (where the ventricles contract), or spikes on both.

So, to turn this into an ES/Operations type topic, although it has nothing to do with Alert Rosters, why is this important for you, the GTM first responder, to know?

[♠SARKID♠]

Think of what might happen if a cell phone's signal was misinterpreted as arterial activity by a pacemaker.

I'd be very concerned if a pacemaker had anything to do with "arterial activity". That would be an issue of installation, not interference. 

Fine, sue me for not going to med school   

Before I reply, why dont we move this topic to a new thread.

[Eclipse]

ILWG has an SMS alerting procedure.  All mission alerts get sent to a distribution list of email addresses and cell phones.  Qualified persons can respond to the IC with availability. Seems to work great.

In ILWG we also use the WMU which gives you a way to print out who is qualified/trainee in any specialty.  Produces a nice report with phone numbers.  I do not know if a similar report exists in Eservices.

SIMs can provide similar reports.

You may need special permission to send multiple SMS messages to a lot of parties - depends on the numbers and carriers.  ILWG had to establish relationships with the carriers to insure messages weren't blocked as spam.

[isuhawkeye]

Heres a new Idea for you guys

http://www.codemessaging.net/

Code messaging is a text message based system. 

I like text because
     1.  In this day and age virtually everyone has a cell phone
     2.  Text messages "Cue"  so that if you are in an area of no service you will get them when you enter a service area
     3.  You can blast a big group, or a select group of people
     4.  you are not dependent upon individuals checking e-mail. 

Draw backs
     1.  There is a monthly service fee
     2. you need to be at a computer to send the message

[brasda91]

Also, WMU allows to page alphanumeric pagers, which I haven't tried as yet, but I believe you can use it to send the SMS to the cell phones

Matt, how is this accomplished?  I have Unit Commander authorization and I don't see this feature.

[floridacyclist]

Code-messaging looks neat, but unless they can set you up with an email to send stuff to (possible if asked), you still would need to be at a computer. If you want to build your own lists, you would not need to be at a computer to send a message. I set up a group on Freelists.org with everyones text email address in it. I also added a forwarding address on our website (xxx@tlhcap.org). I can send email from either a computer or my own telephone to that email address and blast everyone in the squadron.

Most SMS phones allow you to text-message an email address....I just saved my list address as "alert" in my phone book and now I can text everyone in the squadron (assuming they have texting enabled and are on the list) in a matter of minutes.

[Matt]

Also, WMU allows to page alphanumeric pagers, which I haven't tried as yet, but I believe you can use it to send the SMS to the cell phones

Matt, how is this accomplished?  I have Unit Commander authorization and I don't see this feature.

Ah, it is buried within.  The feature is listed under Incident Commander (Center, 5th Row) titled: Alert Member Pagers.

How/If it works -- Not sure, haven't tried it, haven't had a reason.

[floridacyclist]

I just sent a test page to everyone in our squadron with GES...have yet to receive it...might have to go in and set a number for alpha pager first...I know of at least a couple in the squadron that have those, will have to see if they email me.

[brasda91]

I just sent a test page to everyone in our squadron with GES...have yet to receive it...might have to go in and set a number for alpha pager first...I know of at least a couple in the squadron that have those, will have to see if they email me.

I did the same thing, and I'm still waiting too.