IT&E routes Red Cross number to call center

IT&E routed the American Red Cross NMI Chapter’s phones to its call center in Susupe yesterday afternoon, providing 24/7 assistance to the chapter’s casework efforts following the destructive Typhoon Soudelor.

There have been several thousands calls into the chapter since Typhoon Soudelor tore across the island over a week ago, destroying or damaging homes and leaving families in need of assistance.

The local chapter, though, has only had a few operators working the phone line. Red Cross has already taken in some 4,000 calls.

The chapter also closes at 6pm. With calls going to the call center, residents can provide their information 24/7 to IT&E operators who input them into a shared database with caseworkers.

The chapter’s three phones—at 234-3459—clicked over to the call center at around 4pm yesterday, according to Rob Harrell, IT&E Customer Operations executive director. Operators were learning “script” over the last couple of days.

“We are here to support them as long as they need us,” Harrell said.

“I know the Red Cross has probably taken some 4,000 [calls]. And I think the important thing is, once [residents] call in, they don’t need to call in again. I know there is a lot of duplication right now, so we are trying to clean up the contact list.”

“This will be able to help the Red Cross people focus more on the individual—because they haven’t been able to make outbound calls because they are getting so many calls in,” Harrell said.

Mary Anderson, American Red Cross site delivery manager, yesterday said, “…Our girls that are making the phone calls here with the three phones we got [are] going to stop doing it and the call center’s going to take over.”

“You are not going to get a busy signal,” Red Cross executive director John Hirsch said on Wednesday. “You are going always to get an operator. They are going to get your information. We are sharing our database with them so they can have access exactly” as Red Cross does.

Harrell highlighted residents calling in with prepaid numbers would not be charged load.

Harrell also said they would help ease the long lines at Red Cross by making sure that when they do outbound calls, that only one head of the household shows up for appointment.

The outbound calls will tell residents what day and time to go to the Chapter after caseworkers process their information and damage.

“As soon as we put it in, the caseworker can go into those files also,” Harrell said.

He said they aim to help make the process more efficient by “cleaning up” the system and matching the name of applicant with their appointment number faster, for example.