How messaging works

Update your bed availability in one easy text — or on the website. Both count the same, and texting is never required.

1. Turning it on

Text messaging is optional. Consent is never a condition of using FindABed, claiming a listing, or receiving referrals — everything we send by text is also in your dashboard, and referrals are emailed too.

You choose your notifications when you create your account, and can change them any time under Account → Notifications. If you turn texts on, we send one confirmation message. Nothing else sends until you reply YES.

FindABed: Reply YES to confirm weekly bed-availability check-ins and patient referral notifications. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel.

Reply YES and you get one confirmation back:

FindABed: You're opted in to weekly bed-availability check-ins and patient referral alerts. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

2. What we send providers

Once a week, on Monday morning

FindABed: How many open beds do you have today? Reply with a number (e.g. "2"), or YES if unchanged. Manage anytime at findabed.net/providers/dashboard

Thursday, only if you did not reply

If you already answered — by text or by updating your beds on the website — you do not get this one.

FindABed: We did not hear back this week. How many beds are open? Reply a number (e.g. "2"), or YES if unchanged. Manage at findabed.net/providers/dashboard

When a social worker sends you a patient

Referral texts never contain a patient's name or any medical detail. The specifics sit behind a private link only you can open.

New patient referral on FindABed. Reply YES to accept, NO to decline, WAIT 2 for 2 weeks, or AVAIL 3/15 if a bed opens then: https://findabed.net/r/x7k2m9

3. What you can reply

Reply in plain text — no app, no login. Capitalisation does not matter, and you can combine answers: “YES, WAIT 2” accepts a referral and records a two-week wait.

3Sets your open beds to 3 and marks them confirmed today.
YESNothing has changed. Keeps your current counts and refreshes the confirmation date. It does not set you to zero.
NODeclines a patient referral. It does not stop your texts.
WAIT 2Waitlists that patient for 2 weeks. The number is always weeks, never patients.
AVAIL 3/15Tells the social worker a bed frees up on March 15.
HELPSends back the list of everything you can reply.
STOPEnds texts to your number immediately. Your listing stays up.
STARTRestarts texts after you have stopped them.

Text HELP at any time and this comes back:

FindABed: Reply your open bed count (e.g. 2), or YES if unchanged. Referral replies: YES=accept, NO=decline, WAIT 2=waitlist 2 weeks, AVAIL 3/15=bed free that date. Guide: findabed.net/support. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.

4. What your reply changes

Your reply updates your public listing immediately, and we text you back confirming exactly what we recorded.

Thanks, Maple Manor! 3 of 12 beds now showing as open on FindABed. We'll check again next week.

Social workers then see 3 beds open and confirmed today on your listing and in their search results. They never see your phone number, your reply, or whether the update came from a text or the dashboard.

Referral replies update that referral in your Ping Inbox and notify the social worker who sent it — so answering by text is exactly the same as answering in the dashboard.

5. Staying listed, and when we stop texting

Confirm your beds at least every 14 days. Two ways, both equal:

  • Reply to our text with a number, or YES if nothing changed.
  • Update your beds on the website, in your dashboard.

If 14 days pass with no confirmation, your beds stop showing as available until you confirm again. Your listing stays visible the whole time — only the availability claim expires. We would rather show a social worker fewer beds than send them toward one that filled a month ago.

We keep checking in a few days past that. At 17 days we send one last text and then stop, rather than texting into silence:

FindABed: You have not updated your bed availability in over 2 weeks, so we are pausing these check-in texts. Reply YES anytime to restart them.

6. Social workers

Social workers can opt into their own alerts, which fire when a bed matching their saved search criteria opens up. These are event-driven, so frequency varies rather than following a schedule.

FindABed: Maple Manor of Hamburg has available beds. Search now: findabed.net/search

Social workers are also emailed whenever a provider responds to one of their referrals, and can receive the weekly digest of newly available beds.

7. Stopping

  • Reply STOP to any message and we stop texting that number immediately. This applies to the phone number, not the account — if the same number is registered as both a provider and a social worker, STOP ends both.
  • You can also switch any channel off under Account → Notifications, including email.
  • Reply START to turn texts back on.

Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. We never sell, rent, or share mobile numbers or SMS consent with anyone. See our Privacy Policy and Terms, or email austin@symbiotechai.com.