One message. Every staff member. Before the first phone tree call.
The office is closed for weather. A building is inaccessible. Coverage changed overnight and forty people need to know now. A phone tree takes an hour and drops people; a group email is read whenever it is read. Care Roster sends one text to your whole staff from the same screen that already holds your on-call and escalation information — with the recipient list in front of you and the exact cost shown before you send.
- Personal numbers only with the person’s own opt-in
- STOP honored automatically
- 25 texts a year included on every account
Reaching everyone, without a phone tree
Most agencies already have a way to reach staff in an emergency. It is usually a list of numbers, a few volunteers making calls, and the quiet knowledge that it takes an hour and misses people.
Sent from where the numbers already live
Alerts send from the same Emergency screen as your on-call coverage and escalation paths, using the staff directory you already maintain. There is no second list of phone numbers to keep current — the one that is wrong is the one nobody uses, and this feature does not create one.
Work mobile, personal mobile, or both
You choose per message. A coverage change goes to work mobiles; a building closure at 5 a.m. goes to both, because a work phone sitting in an office nobody can enter is not much use. The choice is explicit each time rather than a setting somebody configured once and forgot.
Consent that is real, not assumed
A personal number is only reachable if that person opted in themselves. You cannot enter someone’s personal mobile on their behalf and start texting it, the opt-in is never a condition of employment, and it can be withdrawn. Anyone who replies STOP is removed immediately and permanently, system-wide, and no later message can override that.
No surprises on the bill
Before you send, a live counter shows exactly how many messages will go out and what they cost — a long message splits into more segments than a short one, and you should know that beforehand rather than afterwards. Every account includes 25 texts a year; larger volumes are an optional annual add-on.
The old way vs. the Care Roster way
A phone tree and a group email Problem
- An hour to work through the list, longer if someone is unreachable
- Whoever is meant to make the calls may be affected too
- A group email is read when people next open email
- Personal numbers get used without anyone having asked
- No record of who was actually reached
The Care Roster way Solved
- One message reaches the whole staff at once
- Anyone with the right role can send it
- A text is read in minutes, not at the next inbox check
- Personal numbers reachable only on the person’s own opt-in
- Recipients reviewed before send, cost shown up front
Emergency staff texting, answered
Who receives an emergency text alert?
Your internal staff — the people in your Care Roster directory, not vendors or external contacts. Before anything sends you see the exact recipient list and can review it. For each message you choose whether it goes to work mobiles, personal mobiles, or both, so a routine operational notice and a genuine emergency do not have to reach people the same way.
Do we need permission to text someone's personal phone?
Yes, and Care Roster enforces it. A personal number is only reachable if that person opted in themselves — you cannot add a personal mobile on someone's behalf and start texting it. The opt-in is explicit, it is never a condition of employment, and staff can withdraw it. Work mobiles issued by the agency are treated differently because they are agency devices.
What happens if someone replies STOP?
They stop receiving texts immediately and permanently, across the whole system, and no later message can override it. That is a legal requirement rather than a courtesy, so Care Roster honors it automatically without anyone maintaining a list. Every message carries "Reply STOP to opt out" so the route out is always visible.
Will we know what a send costs before we send it?
Yes. A live counter shows the exact number of messages and the cost before you press send, because a long message split across multiple segments costs more than a short one and that should not be a surprise afterwards. Every account includes 25 texts a year to try the feature. Higher volumes are an optional annual add-on: 1,000 texts for $100, 5,000 for $250, or 20,000 for $500 a year, and upgrading mid-year costs only the prorated difference.
What does the message look like when it arrives?
It identifies Care Roster and your agency, then carries your text and the opt-out line. Naming the sender is what makes an unexpected 6 a.m. text credible rather than something staff ignore, and it is required for the toll-free number the messages send from. Your agency name is in every message, so nobody has to guess who is asking them to stay home.
Is this a mass-notification system for patients or families?
No, and it is deliberately not built to be one. Alerts go to internal staff only. Care Roster holds no patient data at all — there are no patient fields and no way to link a contact to a patient — so there is no patient or family list to message from. This is an operational tool for reaching the people who work for you.
Be able to reach everyone before you need to
Start a free 45-day trial — load your staff directory, collect opt-ins, and send a test alert. Twenty-five texts a year are included on every account. No credit card, no patient data.