22-Sep-08 3:00 PM CST

Hurricane Ike & NPTA

RE: NPTA & STAT EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

9-22-08 (Monday)

Our offices have successfully reopened and our standard communication systems have been restored. All orders submitted between 9-11-08 and 9-21-08 have been processed and shipped. All CE credits from RxPO 2008 have been processed and mailed. We expect to be caught up with memberships/renewals/subscriptions by the end of this week.

Thanks to everyone for your patience and thoughts over the past 10 days.

We appreciate your support!

9-21-08 (Sunday)

Great News...

Power has been restored to the NPTA Home Office and STAT Training Center!

Our offices will reopen on Monday morning, however we still anticipate that it will take the full week to "catch up" on all of our work. The physical damages to the office will be under restoration for approximately six to eight weeks.

Orders/Applications will begin to be processed on Monday and will be shipped in order of their original submission date.

We anticipate reverting back to our normal communications system by Tuesday morning, but correspondence via phone/fax/e-mail could still take a full business day for replies throughout this next week.

9-19-08 (Friday)

According to the latest update from Houston city officials and Centerpoint Energy, our offices are not anticipated to have power and be 100% operational until Thursday, September 25, 2008.

As of Friday afternoon (9-19-08) all e-mail correspondence received, between our office closure on 9-11-08 and today, has been addressed. If you sent an e-mail to us during this time period and have not received a reply...please resend your e-mail. At this point, all e-mails should be replied to within 1 business day or less.

All orders received since 9-10-08 are expected to be processed and shipped beginning on Tuesday, 9-23-08, via UPS. Deliveries typically take 2-4 days.

9-18-08 (Thursday)

According to Houston city officials and Centerpoint Energy, our offices are not anticipated to have power and be 100% operational until Tuesday, September 23, 2008 (at the earliest).

In the meantime, we have secured and launched our emergency backup communications system, which will allow us to serve you to our greatest capacity within this timeframe.

Our toll-free phone and fax numbers are now being directed to our backup system.

E-mail: Our e-mail system remains operational and our staff is now in the process of responding to existing inquiries. We anticipate being able to respond 99% of all previous e-mails by the 5:00 pm CDT on Friday, September 19, 2008. For correspondence via e-mail, please contact us at info@pharmacytechnician.org

Phone: Our phone system remains without power after Hurricane Ike, however our emergency backup phone system is now operational. Voicemails left previously have likely been lost due to power outages. Please call 888-247-8700 to contact us by phone. Calls will be returned within 12-24 hours.

Fax: Correspondence submitted via fax between 9-12-08 and 9-17-08 have been lost due to power and phone outages. Please fax your correspondence to 888-247-8706. Replies will be made, when possible, in approximately 1 business day.

Mail: Our postal mail service remains functional, although the US Postal Service is taking slightly longer for delivery in the greater Houston area due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Please continue to submit correspondence via postal mail to PO BOX 683148 Houston, TX 77268.

Please note that all correspondence (e-mail, phone and fax) will be prioritized to first support members of NPTA and then based upon need assessment.

9-16-08 (Monday)

As I am sure you are aware, Houston recently took a major hit from Hurricane Ike.

First, the good news:

All of NPTA's staff, as well as their friends and families, survived Hurricane Ike and are in good health.

Now, for the not-so-good news:

The NPTA Offices and the STAT Training Center suffered significant damages from the Hurricane, as did the homes of several of our staff.

Like most of Houston, our offices remain without power. In addition, our phone/fax lines are out of service. We will begin our process of restoration on Wednesday, September 17, 2008, but please note that we are unable to receive/respond to phone/fax/e-mail correspondence until further notice.

Through the use of our back-up generator, NPTA will be able to conduct our Certificate Program Training Courses at the STAT Training Center - although it is not in "pristine" condition. Individual correspondence regarding our upcoming September training dates have been e-mailed to registered participants.

Our websites do, however, remain fully functional.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may experience as our offices are in the process of restoration. Please stay tuned to NPTA's website for status updates.

9-11-08 (Thursday)

As Hurricane Ike approaches the Houston area, the NPTA Home Office is hard at work buttoning down the hatches and getting ready for a rough weekend.

The NPTA offices will be closed tomorrow, Friday September 12th, as our employees will be with their families.

However, we do not anticipate any Web site or email outages. While the NPTA website should be fully functional, please note that e-mails and voicemails will not be able to be returned until next week.

For additional information on this article, please contact:

(888) 247-8700

Source: NPTAnews

http://www.pharmacytechnician.org