IP501H LTE Transceiver: Case Study
Event runs smoothly with Icom’s LTE Radios
The Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org) is the largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s research. It is committed to accelerating the global progress of new treatments, preventions, and ultimately, a cure of this irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and cognitive skills. It is estimated that 5.8 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s today plus their family and care givers.
Throughout September and October, the Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association® held 16 walks statewide to raise funds and awareness for this devastating disease. This year, five staff and over 150 volunteers organized these walks with 7,624 participants. As of November 2019, this chapter raised over $1.6 million to end Alzheimer’s.
“Without our wonderful volunteers and participants leading the way in their communities, the Walk to End Alzheimer's events would not have the impact that they do toward our goal of ending the disease.” - Roxanne Gossard, Operations Director.
Searching for Solutions
With that many people, coordinating an event can be challenging. Dawn McCutcheon, the event Director explained: “There are many components that go into coordinating a Walk event. There are months of pre-event prep, but also a large amount of prep on the morning of the event. Without proper communication, organization, and volunteer management these events would not run as smooth.”
There is a registration desk, a main stage, individuals along the route, runners, and a lead – all needing to communicate. On top of that, there are often several walks going on in different cities at the same time with questions popping up between them. It can get hectic to keep things running smoothly.
“The radios were especially helpful when setting our walk routes. Our old radios had such a limited range that the route setters were basically out of contact with the event lead the entire time. If they had questions or ran into an issue, they had to either call and hope the manager picked up, or guess as best they could. As an event manager, it was nerve wracking not knowing what was happening with one of the critical components of the event. The Icom radios fixed all of that!” – Andrea Simmonds, Sr. Director, Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
In prior walks they used cell phones, but these really were simply not effective. Tarah Threde, Manager, mentioned that “in the past, we would have to call or text each other if something came up. This was inefficient since it was hard to hear your ringer or you weren’t constantly checking your phone for updates. At an event, you are running around mingling with participants, sponsors, or volunteers, so when your phone rings you may not have time to answer or respond. Also, since there are so many volunteers at the events, not all of them are willing to share contact information, so being able to hand them a radio and know you will be able to reach them is a comforting feeling for an event manager.”
There were also privacy concerns with the staff. According to Andrea Simmonds, Sr. Director, “After the Association went from providing a company cell phone to providing a monthly stipend for a personal cell phone, staff were reluctant to share their personal cell numbers for work business, particularly when it meant giving their number to a volunteer. Having the Icom radios meant we could keep in touch with all of the functional areas of the event and staff could still keep their personal phone numbers confidential.”
They also tried license-free walkie-talkies radios but the low power didn’t always cover the walk nor did it ever reach to the other walks. Licensed radios introduced the challenge of getting the license to operate throughout the state.
Icom's LTE-CONNECT Solution
When the walk coordinators saw Icom’s LTE-CONNECT IP501H radio, they knew it was exactly what they needed. Andrea Simmonds, Sr. Director commented, ”When the idea of using radios was presented, it was a feeling of relief finally having an effective form of communication at the Walk events. Not only can you communicate with staff and volunteers at your event, but you can contact someone across the state that also has an event going on at the same time.”
The IP501H allowed for quick one-to-many communications with a press of a button. It was a rugged, water resistant device with loud audio. Communications between walks were no problem. The IP501H had another nice feature that is perfect for these types of events. It allows multiple people to talk at the same time. This is particularly nice for ‘newbie’ radio users who aren’t used to the traditional ‘push to talk, release to listen’ format of two-way radios.
The Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association provided five IP501H for each walk, except Seattle where they used 10. These radios were handed out the morning of the walk with minimal training required. Hailey Adair, the Office Administrator/Registration Lead for Walks explained: “When we ran into issues at registration, we were easily able to communicate to the Staff Lead and the person running registration at the other Walk event going on to troubleshoot the problem quickly and efficiently. With the radios, we were able to clearly communicate to each other without having to wait for a phone response or having to run across the venue to find the proper person. These radios helped make the events run smoother than before.” The result was saving the staff and volunteers thousands of steps running around the event to keep things on track.
The IP501H can make a big difference in addressing your communication requirements, large or small. The IP501H is ideal for a wide-range of customers including government agencies, construction, security, hospitality, event management, public transportation, and more. This license-free radio can be deployed immediately and enable users within the same company to carry on multiple separate conversations simultaneously or communicate with all at the same time at the simple push of a button.