Crisis Communication Solved: How Roane County Reconnected Their Community

In 2020, public health departments across the country faced a global health crisis and extraordinary demands on public services. Local health officials were responsible for testing, contact tracing, and eventually distributing vaccines to local populations while adapting to a new way of working.

This was the situation for the Roane County Health Department. Thousands of Roane County residents who sought answers about the virus, testing availability, and vaccine appointments, were suddenly met with busy signals or lines that kept ringing.

As busy phone lines became barriers to public health, Roane County faced a decision. What they did next transformed not just their communication system, but the entire community's access to critical  information and health services.

Watch Roane County Turn Crisis Into Connection

The Tipping Point: Thousands of Urgent Calls

Roane County Health Department’s outdated four-line phone system became an insurmountable barrier between vital health services and a community in need of life-saving information and services.

Most callers experienced endless busy signals. And even when staff managed to answer, they had no way to queue calls or manage the demand efficiently. Laura Conner, the Roane County Health Department Director, details the problems she and her staff faced during this communication bottleneck.

“A lot of people had never heard busy signals before,“ Laura explains.  “[The people of Roane County] were having trouble calling in to schedule testing, vaccination appointments, to get our normal, typical services. There was a lot on the line for us”

Community Trust at Stake

As residents grew more frustrated with their inability to reach the health department, complaints flooded the county mayor’s office. Brad Taylor, a Roane County resident and owner of Taylor Telecom Solutions witnessed the impact firsthand. “Part of that frustration,” Brad details, “was…that people were scared.” This negative perception put the department’s credibility at risk and worsened an already challenging situation.

The health department was operating on an old analog phone system with only four lines, managing a small fraction of the thousands of daily calls received. “I saw the frustration in the eyes of the employees that were trying to take those calls because they really wanted to help the public,” continued Brad. Realizing that citizens were in jeopardy, the county went looking for an immediate solution.

The Partnership That Prevented a Public Health Breakdown

Roane County partnered with local HostMy agent Brad Taylor to immediately implement a complete hosted voice solution. The HostMy team completed installation in a matter of hours and call answering increased eightfold from 250 to around 2,000 calls per day. Suddenly there were no more busy signals and residents could finally access vital information and services.

The new system proved so effective that Roane County employees began servicing an additional 25,000 to 30,000 residents from surrounding counties who were also struggling to reach their local health departments. The partnership with Brad Taylor and the HostMy team didn't just replace technology—it fundamentally transformed how the county delivered essential services during their community's greatest time of need. In the end, Roane County (a county of 55,000 people) had become a regional healthcare hub, thanks to their enhanced communication capabilities.

Meaningful Improvements

Handling thousands of calls daily is challenging for any organization. This is why HostMy introduced call staging, which allows operators to manage incoming and outgoing calls more efficiently. Roane County’s new system included intelligent queuing, which eliminates the need for repeated dial-ins. This was a key to reducing the frustration for the public and county staff.

Beyond call management, HostMy improved work conditions for Roane County employees by replacing their traditional headsets with ergonomic ones, eliminating the neck strain staff experienced while multitasking, typing, and managing cases. These improvements and others increased accessibility, reduced complaints and quickly shifted public perception back to positive.

Continued Support for Roane County

The story didn't end with the initial crisis. When the Roane County Health Department later underwent a major building renovation, HostMy helped transition operations to a temporary facility, solving complex electronic, telephone, and data challenges to maintain uninterrupted service delivery for the community.

Trust HostMy for Government Communications

What started as a communication crisis could have led to a complete breakdown in public health services. Instead, with HostMy's hosted voice systems and support, Roane County transformed their community health operations and emerged stronger than ever.

Is your communication system one crisis away from failure? Your community deserves a communication system that scales with demand—especially when lives depend on reaching your services. 

At HostMy, we believe that no customer should ever be treated like a number. That’s why we’ve made it easy to work with us. Expect rapid deployment, expert U.S.-based support and no upfront costs or hidden fees.

Because when your community needs answers, the last thing they should hear is a busy signal. Visit Government Services page to learn more and get started.