Emergency assistance at Fanshawe College is only one tap away on students’ smartphones.
“We’ve got a new ‘Stay Safe’ app that we are really pushing for students to download,” Special Constable Mike Dukic said. “It gives them access to all the programs we offer [such as:] Safe Walk, the R.A.D program [as well as] the Work Alone program. All those things at the touch of their finger and important numbers they should have access to.”
The application is designed to provide students with resources they might need in a time of need.
However, the app also functions as a tool to help campus security engage with students by inviting them to participate in various initiatives.
“It provides a nice hybrid between calling 911 or the police,” Laurel Bury, a fourth-year student at Western University said. “A lot of the time it is not an emergency that requires fire trucks to arrive, but also not low enough to call the police and let [incidents] sit there.”
Students can contact Fanshawe’s emergency phone line where an operator redirects calls depending on if they deal with police, fire or EMS.
The application educates students on reporting incidents and sends push notifications when an emergency incident takes place.
Bury says that there have been situations where peers have needed specific assistance but had to rely on operators to help them locate the services that were appropriate for the situation.
In addition to emergency contacts, the app also provides students with information for cab companies as well as routes and schedules for the London Transit Commission (LTC) buses.
The application is compatible with Android, iOS and Blackberry smartphones. It can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store, Google Play and Blackberry World.
Dukic says that students are encouraged to provide campus security with feedback on the application.
