Nurse call text alerts on long-term care staff phones
When a resident presses a pendant at 2 a.m., staff on that wing get a nurse call text alert with the room and call type. If your nurse-call or pendant system can email its calls, Welco copies each one to staff phones. Your call system stays in charge, and the text is an extra heads-up.
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- Your call system stays in charge
- Staff need no app
- No per-user fees
Works by email with
- Nurse call & pendants
A floor plan of Maple Wing: Room 214 (pendant) goes into alarm, pendant, its room turns orange and Call server emails the alert. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: Maple Wing 214 pendant call at 2:03 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”
What call texts add on a busy shift
A PSW down the hall sees the call
Personal support workers away from the station still learn which room is calling and what kind of call it is.
Each wing gets its own calls
A rule per wing or home area texts only the staff who cover it. A float PSW can sit on two wings.
Night calls go to the night team
Shift routing sends day calls to day staff and overnight calls to the night shift.
Can nurse call alerts go to staff cell phones?
Yes, as a second copy of each call, if your system can email its calls. Your nurse-call system still rings the station, lights the corridor and logs every call. Welco doesn't change any of that.
Welco adds one more path, the same one it uses for other building and facility alarm texts. A copy of the call email goes to the phones of staff on shift, so a PSW down the hall sees it too. Texts only go to staff who joined from an invite with their own phone, never to residents or families.
What you need before you start
Ask your nurse-call vendor or installer about the first item. The rest is quick.
- A nurse-call or pendant system that can email calls. Many have an email or notification output that the installer turns on.
- Room and wing names in the email. Resident names are not needed, and are better left out.
- A Welco account for your long-term care home or retirement residence, plus staff who join it from an invite on their own phones.
Send resident calls to staff phones in 5 steps
The email settings live in your call system's server. If you don't see them, your vendor can add your Welco address for you.
Approve the call system as a sender
Add the call server's from address, such as
callsystem@ltc.example.ca, to your allowed sender list. Mail from anywhere else is refused.Add your Welco address to the call types
Open the call system's email or notification settings. Add your Welco address for the call types staff should see, such as pendant and pull cord calls.
Send each wing to its own staff
Call emails usually name the wing or group. Create an alert rule per wing that matches that name and texts the staff who cover it.
Match the texts to your shifts
Use shift and after-hours routing so day calls go to day staff and night calls go to the night team.
Test with a test pendant
Turn on Welco's no-text test mode and press a test pendant. Check the Welco feed for the call, then turn test mode off and invite the staff on each shift.
A heads-up for staff on every shift
Approve your call server and add your Welco address to its call emails.
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A pull cord call, before and after
In a retirement residence, a bathroom pull cord goes off late in the evening. Call emails carry device codes and server footers. The text keeps what a staff member needs to walk to the right door.
Alert email from callsystem@ltc.example.ca, subject “Alarm: Oak Hall 108 BATH PULL”. Welco trims it to one text of 75 characters: “Welco: Oak Hall 108 bath pull cord call at 11:26 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”
Text received: Welco: Oak Hall 108 bath pull cord call at 11:26 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.
Characters208751 credit
Device codes and footers come out with alert trimming rules, so each call fits one text.
Tips for resident call texts
Call volume in long-term care is high. These settings keep the texts helpful.
Leave resident names out
Texts show on lock screens. Ask your vendor to send the wing, room and call type only. That is enough for staff to respond.
Set flood limits to fit your busiest hour
Burst caps for call texts keep phones readable. Set the cap above your busiest hour, because calls over the cap are not texted.
Send one call to the whole wing team
Several phones per alert lets every PSW and nurse on a wing get the same call. Each phone gets it once.
Why didn't a call text reach a phone?
The Welco feed lists every call email and what happened to it. Check these in order.
- The call type has no email output. Ask your vendor which call types send email.
- The wing name in the email doesn't match your rule. Copy it exactly from a real call email.
- The staff member hasn't replied YES, or their phone is switched off. Delivery reports per phone say which.
- The call came in during a burst above your flood limit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Welco a nurse-call system?
Can each wing's staff get only their own calls?
Can a PSW reply to the text to say they're on the way?
Do staff need an app or a work phone?
Should resident names appear in the call texts?
Do residents or their families get these texts?
Does Welco connect to our nurse-call server or clinical network?
How much does texting resident calls cost a home?
Give your staff a second way to see each call
Add your Welco address to your call system's emails and route calls by wing and shift.
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