Sowela Technical Community College has integrated its emergency notification services to ensure that the campus community receives alerts within minutes of an incident or urgent announcement. The newest form of technology, provided by the FirstCall Interactive Network, allows officials to contact any number of people within minutes with a pre-recorded or emergency message using only a telephone or Internet-accessible computer.

The FirstCall system is an enhancement to the current emergency notification system by allowing Sowela to send multiple messages to students and employees using landline and cell phones, email and text messaging.

The FirstCall Interactive Network is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to assist with any all and all activations of the system. FirstCall is service-based, which means there is no hardware or software for the college to maintain.

Anyone with an email account can register multiple phone numbers and a secondary email address for the alert system. Students can also include a phone number for their parents.

To register for FirstCall notification, visit the Sowela home page at www.sowela.edu and click on the Register Now First Call button. Registration is free and contact information is used for emergency purposes only.

FirstCall can be accessed by phone anywhere, or from a company computer. There are no phone lines to maintain and the notification service is virtually immediate. The company itself also has numerous safeguards in place, including several back-up data sites, to ensure that their system will not go down.

The information provided through FirstCall will not be shared with any other agencies and is designed only for emergency notification. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to enroll immediately so they can be alerted to any urgencies on campus. Once an emergency notification is made through FirstCall, the administrator can view the results to make sure that proper procedures are followed.

Register to Join FirstCall Interactive Network