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With the start of the new school year, faculty, staff, students and residents at all UT Health Science Center campuses are reminded to sign up for HSC Alert, the Health Science Center's emergency notification service.

“If you signed up for HSC Alert last year, this is also a good time to review the e-mail addresses and phone numbers for the electronic devices you registered to make sure they are still correct,” said Mary DeLay, chief of staff and chief communications officer.

Test set for Oct. 3
A test of the system is scheduled for Oct. 3. “Please either sign up for HSC Alert or sign in to the system to double-check your contact information by Oct. 2 to make sure that you receive the test message. This will help ensure that the system is working properly,” DeLay said.

How HSC Alert works
HSC Alert sends a text message to the e-mail accounts and electronic devices that faculty, staff, students and residents designate when they sign up for the service. Two e-mail accounts and two electronic devices, such as cell phones, alphanumeric pagers, PDAs and Blackberry/Treos, can be designated. The cost of this service is being underwritten by the Health Science Center and is free to those who sign up, aside from any text-messaging fees charged by carriers.

HSC Alert is used only for emergency contact purposes and last-minute campus closures. For example, it will send notifications regarding a life-threatening situation, major facility emergency, evacuation notice or severe weather.

How to sign up for HSC Alert
Signing up for HSC Alert is simple:

• Sign in on the portal with your username and password.
• Under the red “HSC Alert” bar, click on “Sign Up” and follow the instructions.

It is important to have with you the mobile phones, PDAs and pagers that you designate to receive HSC Alert messages. The reason for this is that sign up requires that a validation number be sent to the mobile devices you choose. You must receive this validation number and enter it into the registration system before completing the sign-up process.

Users responsible for keeping contact information current
After signing up for HSC Alert, users are responsible for making sure that their current contact information is in the system. “You can go into the system at any time to change your cell number, internet address or carrier,” DeLay said. “This is very important because we want to make sure that we can reach you in case of an emergency.”

Encourage your co-workers to sign up
Encourage and remind colleagues to sign up for HSC Alert by printing and posting this flier on bulletin boards in your department. Your participation and encouragement could save lives in an emergency situation.

Other resources to use during a campus emergency
HSC Alert is one of several communication methods the Health Science Center uses to notify the university community of an emergency situation. Emergency messages are also sent by global e-mail and through notices posted on the UT Health Science Center Web site and the portal Web site, as well as messages recorded on the university’s information lines — (210) 567-SNOW and (956) 365-UTEL.

Other important resources are the UT Police Department’s Emergency Preparedness Reference Chart and Active Shooter Handout, both available on the UT Police Web site. Police Chief Robert Bratten encourages everyone on campus to review these resources now so they will know what to do should an emergency situation occur.