Baldwin schools, GMC adding wearable crisis alert badges

Teachers and staff will be trained to use Centegix badges that can request help during medical, student safety or law enforcement emergencies

BALDWIN COUNTY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Baldwin County schools and Georgia Military College are adding wearable crisis alert badges to improve emergency communication and response times on local campuses.

Teachers and staff will be given a Centegix crisis alert wearable safety badge. The badges allow staff to instantly request help anywhere on campus by pressing a single button during an emergency, whether it’s a misbehaving child, a medical emergency or a need for law enforcement.

Baldwin County Superintendent Dr. Kristina Brooks says the new alert system is another way to help keep everyone safe during school hours.

“Those safety panic buttons really do have a way of causing our employees to know that there is always someone there for support and monitoring,” Brooks said. “And sometimes it’s not always about student safety. We’ve seen it be very useful when an employee is having a medical emergency, and instead of running to their phone to text somebody, they can just press that button.”

Corey Goble is the director of safety for the Baldwin County School District. He says these new safety badges can be a life saver.

“The idea and intent behind them is to get notifications out to individuals that need to be notified quicker, “Goble said. “As we’ve seen with other school systems across the county; communication is important because if something bad goes on, the people that need to know, need to know quicker>”

He says the goal is to increase the overall safety of every campus.

“That said it varies from campus to campus,” he said. “Every campus in America has a different risk of exposure. What a risk looks like on Baldwin High School campus can be very different from an elementary campus.”

Dr. Brooks believes this new technology is a game changer when it comes to the safety and health of students.

“A student could fall from the monkey bars, and there you have a way to get assistance,” Brooks said. “With the way that the strobes go in the building, it notifies everyone. When that button is hit, within a few seconds admin is aware, your safety director is aware, and regarding what type of button you push 911 and our police. So, it’s been fabulous for our people to see it in action and know this really is a difference maker.”

All teachers and staff will be given a badge and proper training on how to use it during an emergency.