A cell phone-based emergency alert system, currently
in place at several Johns Hopkins
campuses, will soon be fully activated for the East
Baltimore and Bayview Medical Center campuses.
A second test of the medical institutions' Johns
Hopkins Emergency Alerts system, launched in
December, will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 12. The system
is part of a larger effort to rapidly notify
students, staff and faculty in the case of a major
emergency. Since the shootings at Virginia Tech in
April, colleges across the country have been looking at how
they would get the word out quickly in the
event of a similar crisis. Johns Hopkins, like many others,
has concluded that text messaging is an
important addition to the alert process and may be able to
prevent injuries and even save lives.
"The goal is to expedite immediate notification to all
enrolled employees whenever there is an
identified emergency on the East Baltimore campus," said
Howard Gwon, director of the Office of
Emergency Management for The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the
School of Medicine, who is
coordinating the implementation of the JHMI system along
with J. Scott McVicker, of Public Health,
and Claire Bogdanski, of Nursing. "This notification will
then allow employees to implement necessary
steps and/or actions to protect themselves and others."
The JHEA system allows Johns Hopkins security
personnel to send a text message directly to a
person's cell phone if a situation develops that threatens
lives and safety. The voluntary system adds
new strength to the many other ways that the university and
health system communicate vital
information, including Web-based communication, broadcast
e-mail and in-person notification.
Events that would precipitate a message include a
tornado, civil disturbance, explosion, shooter
or significant hazardous material release. The message will
alert the person to the existence of the
emergency and provide necessary information. For example,
the brief text could read, "Radiation
exposure or spill. Stay away from building X" or "Gunman
loose on East Baltimore campus. Stay in
buildings, lock or block doors until further notice." The
message would also likely tell people to call a
hotline number for updates or more details.
Security officials intend to activate the system and
send text messages only in the event of an
emergency involving an imminent potential threat or,
rarely, for tests. The system will not be used to
notify personnel about less serious situations, such as
weather-related schedule changes.
Those enrolled in the system will receive a brief text
at noon on Feb. 12 to ensure the JHEA is
working as expected. To be part of the test, personnel must
enroll by Feb. 11.
The system is open to all faculty, staff and students
on the East Baltimore and Bayview Medical
Center campuses. Registration is completely voluntary. To
enroll, participants must log into the
my.jhmi.edu portal to enter a cell phone number and agree
to the program's terms and conditions,
which include the responsibility to pay their mobile
service provider's usual charges for text messages
received.
The Johns Hopkins Emergency Alert system was launched
in September at the
Homewood/Eastern/Mount Washington campuses and at the
Peabody Institute.
For more information, call 410-955-HELP (4357).
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