1 / 17

Creating and Maintaining an Emergency Call Center

Creating and Maintaining an Emergency Call Center. A Leadership Opportunity for Student Affairs Professionals. University of Illinois: Just the Facts. Location

swain
Download Presentation

Creating and Maintaining an Emergency Call Center

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Creating and Maintaining an Emergency Call Center A Leadership Opportunity for Student Affairs Professionals

  2. University of Illinois: Just the Facts • Location • The University is in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana (total population 180,000) in east-central Illinois. Situated about 140 miles south of Chicago, 125 miles west of Indianapolis, and 180 miles northeast of St. Louis. • 3 campuses • Springfield • Chicago • Urbana-Champaign • Established in 1867 • Students • 43,862 Total students: 31,540 undergraduate and 12,322 graduate and professional students, 54% men, 46% women, 5.0% African-American, 6.0% Latina/o, 11.0% Asian-American, 0.13% Native American, and 17% International • *largest international student population for a public University • Faculty (FTE) • 3,042 Members; 1,963 tenured/tenure track, 1,079 visiting faculty & instructional staff. • Staff (FTE) • 3,750 Administrative and academic professional • 4,182 Support staff

  3. Rationale • Charge by our VCSA • Lessons learned from Virginia Tech and NIU • Ability to handle significantly higher number of calls • Emergency Dean program • 911 has 16 open lines • Centralizes communication—accessible and consistent info disseminated • Emergency responders need to handle the emergency and not be responsible for general communication/information

  4. Emergency Call Center Planning Team • Office of the Dean of Students • Overall maintenance • Staffing • Public Safety • Leads the response • Coordinates emergency response efforts • Public Affairs • Media relations • Content/”script” • Foundation • IT support

  5. Location • UI Foundation Call Center • 65 computers and phone lines • 2 large screens where information can be projected/updated • Centrally located on campus • Secure entry after hours • Back-up location • Assembly Hall

  6. Emergency Call Center

  7. Purpose • To provide a centralized call-in center that efficiently disseminates information to students, parents, faculty, staff, and the general public during a campus-wide emergency • Call Center is staffed by trained volunteers who will respond to calls by providing information about the emergency, identifying resource information, and offering reassurance

  8. Who to Train: Targeted Groups Student Affairs Staff Academic Affairs Staff Religious Workers Association

  9. How to Train: Initial Training • “Invitation” from the VCSA to all Student Affairs professionals • ~12 different training dates • Vary dates and times • One (1) hour training • Doodle RSVP • Lots and lots of reminders • Learning needs of those being trained (visual/hearing/etc.?)

  10. Team Structure • Six (6) teams with approximately 40+ volunteers • Intentionally assigned • Contactinformationloadedinto Illini-Alertsystem • Eachteam has 2-3 TeamCaptains • Eachteammember has teamcaptaincontactinformation • Ifvolunteerunabletoserve, expectedtoinformteamcaptain • Expectedtocoverfour (4)-hourshifts • 24 hourcoverage (for as long as needed)

  11. Training Sessions Structure • 2 x/year • In-person (fall) and On-line (spring) • Maintaining the roster • Illini-alert • Resource packet • Campus contact information (colleges, ISSS, etc) • Campus and Community Medical/Mental Health • Transportation • Community resources (Red Cross, Public Health, Food Bank)

  12. Training Sessions: Focus • Initial Training (Summer/Fall 2010 • Orientation/familiarization • Buy-in • On-line Training (Spring 2011) • Review/reminder • Third Training (Fall 2011) • 45 minute training • Review of expectations • “Test” of the Illini-Alert/response system • Communication tips • 70% participation rate

  13. Issues for Consideration • Buy-in • Cooperation among the planning team • Who to train/how many • Other responsibilities • Learning needs of those being trained • Unified Communications • Maintenance and on-going trainings • Keeping rosters up-to-date • Organization of trainings • Access to team rosters • Location/back-up location • Untested system • Family Resource Center

  14. Opportunities for Student Affairs Professionals Create Organize Recruit Maintain Create enthusiasm and buy-in

  15. QUESTIONS ?MLCOOPER@ILLINOIS.EDUBALLOM@ILLINOIS.EDU

More Related