Category: News

Some 500 professionals, health officials and political authorities are participating in the Congress to share the results of the EGALURG project and address the future challenges of health cooperation on both sides of the border.

Around 500 people have registered for the first Cross-Border Medical Emergencies Congress being held since yesterday in Alp (Catalonia). During the Congress, the members of the EGALURG project presented the findings of the three-year project. On the other hand, the meeting allows to exchange work experiences, good health practices established during this first collaboration between the health teams of the various participating territories.

At the opening of the Congress, the speakers stressed that the Egalurg project has laid the foundations for a solid cooperation in the field of emergency healthcare between the territories on both sides of the border and has found a way to overcome the geographical and administrative barriers that condition the action of emergency medical services.

Then, in the first round table, the project members presented the tools and innovations developed during the project. Indeed, in addition to creating a European network of emergency healthcare cooperation, EGALURG has allowed to develop innovative tools and solutions in health, research, cartographic training, etc. Likewise, all the members have insisted on the smooth functioning of cooperation and the need to continue this collaboration: “We are already working on the continuity of the project in order to use and improve the tools and services developed during the project. On the other hand, the challenge will be to open the future project to other members to obtain better territorial coverage and improve healthcare in case of health emergency or catastrophe within cross-border territories.”

Launching healthcare cooperation
In addition, the Congress offers participants training activities on cross-border cooperation. Indeed, one of the main goals of the Egalurg project is to train professionals from different territories so that, when the time comes, they can work together. For this reason, in addition to conferences and round tables provided during the Congress, the tools developed during the project are presented, and workshops are organised to implement the initiatives of emergency management and transfer of clinical cases related to trauma and severely injured patients: multiple victims simulation, cross-border trauma care protocol, cross-border multiple victims care protocol, debriefing common among different institutions… are some of the topics proposed.

In this regard, today, Friday, the results and learnings of the accident drill with several victims that took place on April 21 in Llívia and in which health teams from Catalonia, France and Andorra participated for the first time, are now presented.

Finally, it should be noted that in the UMPEO (Multipurpose Mobile Unit Europe-Occitania) was deployed during the practical exercises developed by the University Hospital Centre of Toulouse. It is a unique mobile facility in Europe capable of being deployed in 45 minutes and with a capacity for 18 patients. It has been developed within the framework of the EGALURG project and has already been used on several occasions by members (COVID patient care in Bayonne, COVID vaccination in rural areas of Navarre, Llivia drill…)

On 26 April, a training session was organised to learn how to use TRANSFER, a training tool, applicable in situ, for sharing patient information among different emergency teams, overcoming the language barrier.

Within the framework of the EGALURG cross-border project, TRANSFER, a training tool for sharing patient information among the emergency teams of the EGALURG network, has been developed. The tool is a solution consisting of an app and a web platform which allows to improve the agent coordination in the management and transport of patients in an emergency situation.

The training session developed in two parts. The company IAR, developer of the TRANSFER platform, kicked off by presenting the tool and its operation, and subsequently, participants used it with two practical cases of patient transfer simulation. Teams from the emergency services of Navarre participated in person and, remotely, the SAMU 64 and a person from the computer services of the CHU of Toulouse.

Overcoming the language barrier

“TRANSFER has been developed as a very useful tool to organise the training of the EGALURG network entities. It allows us to create case simulations with members, remotely, just as we are doing today”, explains Rafael Huarte from the polytrauma patient research group of Navarrabiomed. “Thanks to TRANSFER, a given patient’s information (diagnosis, first aid, medication administered, etc.) can be transmitted without language being a problem.” In fact, with this tool, the unit transferring the patient sends the information in their own language and the receiving unit sees this same information in theirs. “In addition, with this type training, we can learn from each other, comparing results, applied protocols and their efficiency.”

Nicolas Harcaut, SAMU 64 professional at the Hospital de la Côte Basque highlights the simplicity of using the application. “In a matter of minutes, without having ever used it, you can fill in a simple but also quite comprehensive information. It adapts to many situations and is very concise. It offers the possibility of collecting and understanding the information prepared by a team on the other side of the border simply by opening the software.”

In the future, TRANSFER could be applied in situ. “We have to work on many aspects of our cooperation. But the tool could help improve the coordination of agents in the management and transport of patients in emergency situations, from both sides of the border” Huarte concludes.

The drill, organised and coordinated by the SEM (Medical Emergencies System), has been carried out in a scenario of foreseeable risk, a massive concert with an influx of young people from both sides of the border that has allowed to test the different protocols developed in the EGALURG project.

Today, Thursday, April 21, a healthcare drill has been organised in Llívia (Cerdanya, Girona), recreating, through a Multiple Victims Incident (IMV) simulation how the various medical emergency bodies on both sides of the border have to act and coordinate themselves in such an event. The exercise has served to practice cross-border cooperation and the joint work between healthcare teams for future health emergency situations or catastrophes.

The SEM has been in charge of managing the health emergency in collaboration with units from France, Andorra and La Cerdanya. This incident has enabled putting into practice all the joint action protocols developed over the last 3 years and the “follow me”, role created within the framework of the EGALURG project to act as a link between the participants of different territories and/or countries.

The event: A stampede during a concert in the Pyrenees

The exercise started with an individual incident: the lead singer rushed from the stage with severe trauma, which activated the EGALURG individual trauma assistance protocol. At the same time, the end of the concert is announced, causing a stampede when evacuating the venue with several victims being crushed and resulting in traumatic injuries. It was then that the cross-border IMV protocol was activated.

Upon the arrival of the first units, the basic triage (START) was initiated, as well as the location of the UMPEO device which, on this occasion, has acted as a healthcare area and transfer unit parking area. Identification of all those affected was carried out as they reached the area, and subsequently the advanced triage (META) has been carried out, which allows to determine the severity of injuries and the evacuation order to the appropriate health centres.

During incident management, psychological support has also been offered to victims and interveners.
The management of the incident has been carried out following the IMV-cross-border protocol and communication between the French and Catalan coordination units.

To carry out all the functions, the IMV’s Management Platform for those affected (GA-IMV) has been used as a tool that helps the identification and selection of those affected, while serving as a healthcare report, allowing to maintain traceability from the place of the incident to the hospital network. The transfer of patients was simulated.

Around 70 professionals participated in this event and meant the mobilisation of five SEM units, a medicalised helicopter of the SEM, the Central Unit for Health Coordination (CECOS) of the SEM, as well as psychological support has also been available. On the other hand, two units of the French SAMU and one of the Andorran SUM have also participated. Other interveners such as the Hospital de la Cerdanya and the Hospital de la Cerdanya Foundation have also been directly involved in the drill.
Cross-border Medical Emergencies Congress

The actions and results of this exercise will be analysed in the next days and the learnings of this training exercise on cross-border health cooperation will be presented within the framework of the Cross-border Medical Emergencies Congress that will take place in Alp (Girona) on May 12 and 13.

The project is coming into the final straight, which will end on 31 May. 

The European cross-border cooperation network EGALURG, whose aim is the reduce inequality of access to health care in the cross-border area in emergencies, held its 5th meeting on 13 and 14 January, in Bayonne. During the meeting, progress made over the last few months and the actions to be implemented before the end of the project, scheduled for the end of May, were presented. Furthermore, the meeting focused on emergency protocedures at mass events.

The Bayonne Festival, the San Fermines, Catalonia Day, the Music Festival and the 14th of July: the partners exchanged their experiences on the medical units deployed during the big events in the Pyrenean region. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these events weren’t held in the last two years, which made it difficult to carry out the scheduled exchange of experiences between the professionals. Nevertheless, this sharing of experiences and good practices will aim to draw up a joint protocol for big gatherings.

Technological innovations to improve the emergency services at big events.

With respect to big events, during the meeting the state of development of the mapping tool that compiles the health resources and big events in cross-border regions was presented. It is a transversal application covering the entire project that, in addition to serving to improve the management of health units during big events, enables the resources used to be displayed and managed. All this by means of a map with several layers.

Furthermore, a Multiple Victim Incident platform has been developed, enabling real time reporting of what happens. It can also record incidents with multiple victims, the people affected and track them, in situ, during their transfer to hospital and in the hospital. It also enables the team responsible for the emergency unit to be defined and its leaders managed, as well as to assign the necessary hospital resources and referrals. It also enables a brief of the situation to be obtained at any time and the victims’ evolution to be followed. This platform provides a real-time picture of the incident, the unit deployed and the people affected.

Similarly, a report was made on the progress of the actions taken to deploy the U2MR, the mobile medical regulation unit developed by the Basque Coast Hospital and the SAMU (Emergency Medical Care Service) of Bayonne. This unit will facilitate the coordination of medical care services for big events or disasters, transferring resource management to the place they occur.

Simulations and transfer of patients

More focused on trauma care, the University Hospital of Navarra, together with the Navarrabiomed research centre, presented a training tool, applicable in the field, for sending information about patients between different emergency teams. It enables patients to be transferred from one side of the border to the other, overcoming the language barrier. The progress made on TraumaNet, a database platform for care of severe trauma patients and covering the variables related to their survival was also presented. This tool is intended to become a key element in the provision of proper cross-border health care.

Finally, we should note that the work carried out for the creation of joint procedures for the care of severe trauma patients, as well as a cross-border healthcare cooperation protocol, was also presented.

The project network is made up of theUniversity Hospital of Toulouse (CHUT), the University Hospital of Navarra together with the Navarrabiomed Research Centre, the Basque Coast Hospital (CHCB) and the Medical Emergencies System (SEM) of Catalonia. The EGALURG project has a budget of 2,343,192 euros, 1,523,075 (65%) of which have been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the Interreg V-A Spain-France-Andorra Programme (POCTEFA 2014-2020). The aim of POCTEFA is to strengthen the economic and social integration of the Spain-France-Andorra border area. Its aid is focused on developing cross-border economic, social and environmental activities, through joint strategies in favour of sustainable regional development.

The conference was developed in a hybrid format, online and face-to-face in Toulouse.

More than 130 people participated last Thursday, 25 November, in the workshop organised by the University Hospital Complex of Toulouse (CHUT), leader of the European project EGALURG. Throughout the conference, the partners of the emergency and disasters medicine network presented at the Purpan Hospital Congress centre their progress in the various project actions and participated in several round tables related to coordinated health care and cross-border cooperation.

The institutional opening was carried out by various French authorities. Representing the Toulouse University Hospital Complex (CHUT) the medical staff manager, Geneviève Huc participated, and Vincent Bounes, scientific director of EGALURG and manager of SAMU 31. They were followed Alain Abravanel (Regional Health Agency of Occitania), Fabienne Couty (diplomatic adviser, Haut-Garonne) and Jaume Estany (Manager of Medical Emergency System-SEM -, Barcelona).  The first of the presentations, “EGALURG solutions through cross-border cooperation” was given by technical managers of the SEM of Catalonia, the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN) and the biomedical research centre Navarrabiomed, who explained the joint protocols of traumatology and catastrophes developed within the framework of this project. In addition, they also presented “Traumanet”, a common database used in cases of emergencies and that aims to become an essential tool for the development of proper cross-border health care. 

During the meeting, there was also a round table in which the future perspectives of disaster medicine were discussed. Speakers and the public discussed the options available and the horizons to continue working for the promotion of joint cooperation and the establishment of synergies between neighbouring territories. As an example of good practice, several successful events detected in the various trans-Pyrenean regions were also presented:

• HeliNET project aimed at improving the organisation of a cross-border cooperation network for joint risk management and mutual aid missions in emergency, rescue and disaster situations, by enhancing the use of helicopters. Its ultimate goal is to plan, organise and test a coordinated and integrated response between the territories that are part of the Nueva Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra consortium. During the presentation, the importance of having common intervention guidelines was stressed on to enable an exchange of information and, therefore, a real cooperation between the partners. All this in order to improve the ability to anticipate potential disasters and reduce inequalities in the access to emergency care for remote populations.
• Cross-border Hospital of Sardinia, located in a strategic geographical point that requires cooperation between the entities of both cross-border countries. One of the great challenges is focused on shared medical records since, according to the hospital, 90% of the problems it faces derive from lack of communication.
• Cooperem Project, an initiative that allows the joint work between the firefighters of Catalonia and the firefighters of the Eastern Pyrenees in the cross-border framework. It aims to develop a joint policy of cooperation in the field of risk prevention and management, to improve the capacity to anticipate and respond to specific risks and disaster management. Work developed to coordinate emergency responses to potential fires that may affect both Pyrenees areas was presented in Toulouse. Among the actions carried out within the framework of the project, the figure of the “liaison officer”, a reference person for the two territories who acts as a link between the needs of the personnel and the objectives of the mission, was highlighted.

The presentations of the successful cases then led to an intense debate on the current barriers to cross-border health cooperation and how they can be overcome. Legal certainty regarding medical liability was one of the main challenges identified. Among the findings, the political will of both the member states and regions such as the European Union itself was appealed to, which can offer margins for improvement through its legal instruments, which would allow improved progress and project integration measures. 

Lectures ended with a heartfelt tribute to the memory of Professor Liuhuabing, a doctor who created SAMU in Toulouse, something that would save thousands of lives in a few years and whose example would later be used in multiple emergencies around the world. Finally, the ceremony of handing over the keys of the UMDEO decontamination unit, one of the tools created by the CHUT, took place. In addition, on-site demonstrations were performed of other innovations developed within the framework of the EGALURG project such as the UMPEO, a stationary drone, the U2MR mobile command post or the application for the management of multiple-victim incidents.

In addition, during the meeting synergies and strategic alliances were generated between professionals from other entities and potential future cross-border partners in new partnership projects that will serve to improve emergency care at both the interregional and transversal levels.

During the “Citizen’s Dialogue” session, the European Commissioner for Regional Regulation and Reform, Ms. Ferreira, presented several examples of recovery in all European regions, among which the EGALURG – UMPEO project. An interesting debate was set up on how cohesion policy and the EU have adapted to the pandemic and prepared for a double transition that leaves no one behind, how this is perceived in the EU regions and how, together, we can achieve the change we want for Europe and the world.

You can watch the debate HERE