Village of Medina, Town of Shelby urge residents to sign up for notification system
MEDINA – The Village of Medina and Town of Shelby are urging their residents to sign up for a new emergency alert system for rapid notification of hazardous and urgent situations using a mix of telephone calls, text and email messages, and even TTY/TDD service for the hearing impaired.
Medina and Shelby contracted with Hyper-Reach to provide a mass emergency notification system designed specifically for public safety. The municipalities expect to have the service fully operational by the end of June.
The system sends thousands of these messages to geographically targeted households in seconds, and can simultaneously deliver them to an even broader audience via social media, as well as sending broadcast messages to most current mobile telephones (made since 2011) in an affected area by providing access to FEMA’s Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system.
“Our job is to protect the citizens of the Village of Medina as effectively and cost-effectively as possible,” said Jess Marciano, trustee for the Village of Medina. “We reviewed all the major vendors for emergency notification service, and Hyper-Reach gave us everything we needed at half of the price of its competitors. We’re really excited about this new capability.”
The Village plans to use the service primarily for alerts about hazards, criminal activity and missing persons. Community and weather alerts to VoIP phones, mobile phones, and email addresses are only included when people enroll.
Residents and people who work in the Village of Medina and Town of Shelby are encouraged to enroll now (using a village or town address) either by calling or texting “Alert” to (585)318-8831 or by going to this website.
Citizens can get emergency alerts via their Alexa-enabled smart speakers just by saying “Alexa, enable Hyper-Reach” and following the Alexa-provided instructions. With more than 50 million US households using Alexa devices, there are obviously hundreds of local residents with Alexa units.
Citizens can also download the Hyper-Reach Anywhere app on their smartphone. Hyper-Reach Anywhere is a free smartphone app that allows individual citizens to manage and monitor the alerts they receive, both for their home and office addresses and for other addresses they care about such as those of elderly relatives or friends.
“We’re honored to have been selected by the Village of Medina NY and the Town of Shelby NY to provide their emergency alerts,” said Sam Asher, President of Hyper-Reach. “It’s gratifying to be part of an effort to save lives and protect property and we take that responsibility very seriously.”
The village is paying $2,600 and the town $1,300 for the community mass alert system.
About Hyper-Reach
Hyper-Reach (www.hyper-reach.com) is a mass notification system with over 15 years of experience in emergency messaging. Hyper-Reach sends messages via automated telephone calls, text messaging (SMS), email, and social media, such as Twitter. Other uses of Hyper-Reach include Amber alerts, toxic chemical warnings, and armed shooter alerts. In addition to 911 centers, Hyper-Reach is used by law enforcement, educational institutions and corporations.
