Marin entrepreneur develops crisis app for collegians

March 13--With the high school shootings last month in Parkland, Florida, the Yountville Veterans Home shootings in Napa County on Friday and the North Bay wildfires in October, many school and law enforcement leaders are thinking more about emergency preparedness -- and the need to make sure their students and staff are linked to alerts and disaster-help contacts.

"Having more information is better than less, when it comes to an emergency," said College of Marin police Chief Jeffrey Marozick, who is in the process of enhancing and expanding the school's alert system, COM Connect.

"Certainly at College of Marin, I'm aware of the need to have information get out and to notify students," Marozick said. "What if there were an active shooter or a tsunami warning?"

Marozick was reacting to news about one such alert service based in Marin: Umergency, a smartphone app that connects college students and their parents to college emergency hotlines, Google map alerts, insurance forms and the names of roommates, physicians and local fire departments and hospitals.

Marozick said he was not familiar with Umergency, but he said that, in general, parents would be wise to make sure they have their college kids' emergency contact information in hand -- especially in such tumultuous times.

"I would hope that parents would work with their children to get that information," he said.

TECHNOLOGY > MORE COVERAGE

Umergency, co-founded by Mill Valley resident Barry Schenbaum, is in a soft launch period but plans a wider rollout later this year in time for the 2018-19 fall term. It contains links and phone numbers from 1,200 colleges and universities and can be downloaded on the Umergency site in the App store on iPhones.

The app is free for students; parents who want to subscribe and be linked in with their children pay $10 per year or $20 for a lifetime subscription.

Umergency stores information such as medical insurance cards, contact names and phone numbers of roommates and school staff, resources such as a suicide prevention hotline, first responders' names and numbers -- and each college's hotlines, clinics, emergency staff, dormitories and other information.

"There is a one-click 'urgent alert' button," Schenbaum said. "If the student hits that, it pops up on a Google map, and the parents will be able to see where he or she is, using the phone's GPS."

Schenbaum said the app can help ease anxiety when parents are sending their children out of state. Security measures have been added to prevent personal data from being stolen, he said.

"Parents need peace of mind," Schenbaum said. "If this creates even a little bit of that, we will have accomplished something."

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