An emergency response team who lost their main power supply during Storm Ophelia were still able to reassure almost 10,000 calls from panicked or injured elderly people, thanks to a top-quality back-up system from INNOVATE.
Emergency Response Ltd in Bunclody, Co Wexford received a dramatic five-fold increase in calls during the raging storm – up from 1,670 the previous Monday to massive 9,695 queries.
Only for a back-up system installed by INNOVATE, Emergency Response Ltd has revealed that most of these calls would have went unanswered when a power cut hit the company’s main line.
“The number of calls increased nearly five-fold from elderly callers nationwide as Storm Ophelia hit and cut our power supply,” said Helena Fortune, IT manager at Emergency Response Ltd.
“Only for INNOVATE, who provided a top quality back-up system, we could not have reassured those who were afraid or helped those who had fallen in their homes. Even though we lost power and phone lines at our main office in Bunclody, we could continue to serve our customers as INNOVATE had put in place a continuity plan. We had a seamless switch-over to the back-up office in Tullow and continued to work from there with no impact on our clients, who are mainly fragile and elderly. INNOVATE’s skilled engineers met us and after an assessment, were able to advise on everything necessary for back-up, including phone lines, computers and software.”
The calls received during Ophelia represented almost a quarter of their 35,000 clients nationwide.
“Many of those calls were people who were frightened and just needed some reassurance. Some had fallen in their homes so we were able to get them help. Often, we are the only people some of our clients get to talk to on a daily basis.”
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