West Nile Virus Is First Use Of New Mass Alert System

A new secure mass alert system was recently used to issue the first Texas-wide alert on the states Health Alert Network, providing detailed information about the spreading West Nile virus.

August 10, 2002

A secure mass alert system conceived and developed by E-Health Solutions, Inc. (EHS) was recently used to issue the first Texas-wide alert on the states Health Alert Network, providing detailed information about the spreading West Nile virus. This new communication system uses various levels of alert priority to distribute to recipient lists controlled by local health departments throughout Texas.

The unique system

· quickly sends alerts to thousands of people using different contact methods.
· allows users to send and receive alerts using different levels of security.
· provides the ability to attach health surveillance data about a specific alert where added information is required.
· displays data in a new reporting format including geographical (GIS) mapping of the incident data.

According to Dr. Robert Brecht, president of EHS, One of the most important aspects of this new system is its application to emergency communication. In response to public health threats, such as bioterrorism or chemical spills, the ALERTHomeland system can quickly deliver a message to thousands of people using e-mail, phone, pagers, fax and a special alert window on their computer." The Texas West Nile Virus alert is the first statewide alert issued with the new system since EHS concluded testing of the implementation on July 31st of this year. EHS is now in the process of expanding the application and making it available to other jurisdictions.

Michael Miner, Manager of Software Development for EHS, points out that the ALERTHomeland application can be easily incorporated into existing or planned telemedicine networks. The same application will soon be available on a subscription basis for nationwide access by organizations who require high security but do not want to install and maintain their own networks."

E-Health Solutions, Inc., a Houston, Texas-based company, is a telehealth consulting and implementation company which conceived and developed the Texas Health Access & Alert Network (HAANet) for the Texas Hospital Telecommunications Alliance and the Texas Health Alert Network (Texas HAN) for 64 Local Public Health Departments. The networks accommodate administrative, educational, teleradiology and telemedicine applications in a secure private wide area network environment.

For additional information contact E-Health Solutions at P.O. Box 891028, Houston, Texas 77289, USA, tel:(281) 280-8228 or visit www.ehealthsolutions.com.