Hurricane Ike

Philadelphia -- Advanced Telecom Services’ PromoTXT emergency text message broadcast system saved countless animals’ lives when Hurricane Ike pounded Texas in September.

Hurricane Ike was a Category 4 hurricane and the third most destructive in US history. Its 145 MPH winds caused $27 billion in damages in the state of Texas and killed 82 people.

Many of the unrecognized victims of Hurricane Ike were the countless animals who were left stranded or lost in the ravaged state when their owners fled the area prior to the storm. It was the job of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association and its veterinarians to save as many animals’ lives as possible in the aftermath of the storm.

The Texas Veterinary Medical Association received donations of medicines and supplies to help the animals. The only problem was, with land lines down throughout Texas, it had no way of effectively and quickly notifying the nearly 1000 veterinarians in the field who were dispatched to help the ailing animals.
The Austin-based Texas Veterinary Medical Association turned to PromoTXT and Advanced Telecom Services to help get the message out to the veterinarians.
Broadcast text messages were immediately sent by PromoTXT to the veterinarians. The veterinarians were able to respond by cell phone text message with requests for medicines and other supplies to be delivered. Volunteers then drove the much needed supplies from Austin to the veterinarians.

“As an animal lover, it was rewarding to know that our emergency text message system helped save animals’ lives,” said Bob Bentz, president of Advanced Telecom Services. “In some cases, the medical supplies would have never made it to the vets without the text messages.”

Advanced Telecom Services supplies both interactive and mass broadcast text message solutions. It has been providing interactive telephone services since 1989.

Contact an ATS representative today by email.