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Radio vs. Cell Phone

At Manhattanville College we use the Nextel Cell Phones with the two-way radio built in. We've found that they work really well in keeping RDs, RAs and Senior Staff in touch, in emergency situations and even in the day to day stuff too. The only draw back is that you pay for the two-way radio calls. It's not as much as a regular cell phone charge, but it's not free like a normal walkie-talkie.

We switched to cell phones last year from radios. There were many benefits and few, if
any, drawbacks. Phones keep their charges longer. They get better reception. If they
break, they are under repair contract with the University. It just really seems to work
much better for us.

We use the cell phone here for emergency communication,
the fire phone rings to the mobile cell phone first. then to the office phone then to staff off residence.

Transporting people to the hospital would lie under the offer of the RA if serious. It is felt that people 18 or over have the right to ask for their own transport to care if conscious. Pretty hard to talk an 18 yr old into mandatory care; then if it is spurious,college may be asked to pick up the cost(downer). Obvious situations are taken care of by the RA ASAP and thank God we have had none of those. I guess it might be different here in Canada?
Emergencies are handled by the RA then they make a report about the situation and what happened.

The content on these pages was originally provided by Brian C. Steinberg, the founder of http://www.theallygroup.org and http://www.safezoneforall.com (Creater of the previous: http://www.residentassistant.com/reslifepro)