NIGHTINGALE project showcased at the 2nd Workshop for Emergency Medical Teams in Brussels
10 December 2024
Press Release
- EU-funded NIGHTINGALE project presented at the 2nd Workshop for Emergency Medical Teams under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in Brussels.
- Participants from emergency medical teams, the WHO and the Commission Expert Group on Capacities attended the event.
- NIGHTINGALE partners from Greece and Italy showcased the NIGHTINGALE toolkit for emergency medical teams.
The EU-funded NIGHTINGALE project, which aims to enhance pre-hospital life support and triage procedures, attended the 2nd Workshop for Emergency Medical Teams under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) in Brussels. The workshop took place on Tuesday 26th November and aimed to raise awareness of EU-supported projects in emergency medical response.
The workshop was hosted by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), in cooperation with the Department for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) and the Research Executive Agency (REA).
NIGHTINGALE attended the workshop to identify opportunities for collaboration with UCPM Emergency Medical Teams in the areas of capability development, training and exercises, and networking across the research, innovation, training and practitioner communities in emergency medical response.
NIGHTINGALE partners from the Institute of Communication & Computer Systems (ICCS) and the Centre for Research and Training in Disaster Medicine, Humanitarian Aid and Global Health (UPO CRIMEDIM) presented the NIGHTINGALE toolkit, and demonstrated what the project’s results can offer UCPM Emergency Medical Teams both technologically and theoretically.
Footage from NIGHTINGALE’s recent Full-Scale Exercise in Savona, Italy, was showcased. This footage highlighted the project’s practical applications and field-tested outcomes.
Eleftherios Ouzounoglou, NIGHTINGALE project manager and Senior Researcher at ICCS, presented on co-creating policy recommendations, methods and an AI-powered platform for crisis management, in order to better prepare for and address health emergencies from a social and societal perspective.
Eleftherios said of the workshop:
‘This workshop gave us the opportunity to communicate the project’s achievements, in particular the fantastic results of the Full-Scale Exercise that NIGHTINGALE conducted in Savona this year.’
Marta Caviglia, end user coordinator for the NIGHTINGALE project and Researcher at UPO CRIMEDIM, presented on the potential synergies of the project outcomes. Marta said of the workshop:
‘It was great to collaborate with UCPM Emergency Medical Teams. Our goal is to support these teams with capability development. We want to help UCPM Emergency Medical Teams in standardising procedures and equipment, strengthening their response capabilities for mass casualty incidents, and improving their interoperability with other responders. We also want to provide them with procurement and innovation support.’
Eleftherios’ and Marta’s presentations also showed how the NIGHTINGALE project has benefited organisations previously, such as Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network.
The hybrid workshop was attended by over 100 participants. In addition to UCPM Emergency Medical Teams, participants included representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and members of the Commission Expert Group on Capacities.
ENDS
For more information about the NIGHTINGALE project, or to arrange an interview with a NIGHTINGALE representative, contact Sean Travers, Carr Communications, at stravers@carrcommunications.ie
Notes to the Editor
More about the NIGHTINGALE Project
The NIGHTINGALE project is developing a novel integrated toolkit for emergency medical response, in order to optimise the current procedures and operational capabilities of emergency medical services and civil protection agencies in mass casualty incidents. This toolkit has been designed for emergency medical services and non-medical civil protection agencies, including fire brigades, police, search and rescue personnel, volunteers, and citizens.
The toolkit has undergone extensive testing and validation by first responders. This includes practical training exercises, laboratory testing, and small- and full-scale field tests in realistic mass casualty incident scenarios.
More about ICCS
ICCS is the Project Coordinator of NIGHTINGALE. Their role is to oversee the progression of the NIGHTINGALE project and manage its administrative and financial aspects. ICCS develops and prototypes the project’s novel triage system for first responders, supports the development of NIGHTINGALE’s AI-based solutions for field data analysis, and contributes to the development and prototyping of NIGHTINGALE’s AR functions.
More about CRIMEDIM-UPO
CRIMEDIM is the end-users’ coordinator of the NIGHTINGALE project. NIGHTINGALE’s end-users are the first responders, who will use the project’s toolkit to save lives in mass casualty incidents. CRIMEDIM plays an active role in NIGHTINGALE’s integration testing, validation of the project’s developed tools, and user identification. CRIMEDIM also conducts the small- and full-scale exercises in the NIGHTINGALE project. During these exercises, CRIMEDIM works directly with first responders to define the requirements and operating principles based on the latter’s needs and scientific evidence.
Contact information of the NIGHTINGALE Project Coordinator
Dr Angelos Amditis | Research and Development Director | Institute of Communication and Computer Systems | a.amditis@iccs.gr
Contact information of the partner responsible for the exercise
Marta Caviglia | Researcher | CRIMEDIM UPO – Center for Research and Training in Disaster Medicine, Humanitarian Aid and Global Health | marta.caviglia@med.uniupo.it
For more information about the project, visit the NIGHTINGALE website and follow NIGHTINGALE on LinkedIn and X.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101021957.
