IMPRESS final newsletter, debriefing projects key activities

1. FURTHER INFO
Dr. Sofia Tsekeridou
Project Coordinator
INTRASOFT INTERNATIONAL
sofia.tsekeridou@intrasoft-intl.com
Mr Ilias Gkotsis
Dissemination Leader
CENTER FOR SECURITY STUDIES
i.gkotsis@kemea-research.gr
Project website: www.fp7-impress.eu
E-mail: info@fp7-impress.eu
Twitter: @Impress_FP7
LinkedIn: “IMPRESS FP7 Project” group
Facebook: “Impress Project - FP7 ” page
Blog: fp7-impress.blogspot.com/
The IMPRESS prototype system was tested and validated at a
Table Top Exercise (TTX), that was successfully conducted in
Sofia, Bulgaria on 16th of March 2017. The exercise was orga-
nized by IICT-BAS, KEMEA, EKEPY and INTRASOFT and host-
ed by NATO CMDR Center of Excellence in Shipka Hotel, Sofia.
The system was operated by Greek and Bulgarian operators-
stakeholders from public services and hospitals from both coun-
tries, following a one day hands-on training session that took
place on March 15, 2017.
The scenario concerned the combination of heavy rainfall and a
strong earthquake that stroke Southern Bulgaria. As a result, ex-
tended damages to buildings and infrastructures along with a land-
slide damaging the roadside pavement in Strimon River and over-
flow of the river over part of the E79 Highway, were recorded.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research,
technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no [608078]
INCIMAG: Integrated Incident Management System
INCIMOB: Field and patient data collection application
INCICROWD: Crowd Sourced Information Application
DHC: Data Harmonization Component, for different data for-
mats
WARSYS: Data Warehouse management system
SORLOC: Assesses location and spatial extent of a biological
release
PATEVO: Predicts the evolution of patient's physiologi-
cal status
LOGEVO: Estimates Health crisis Logistic Evolution
Recommendation Engine: Suggests efficient distribu-
tion of patients to available hospitals
Training suite & Lessons Learnt Collection Tool:
Offline processes for training of end-users
Current health emergency management systems consist of disconnected command &
control operations lacking of appropriate coordination mechanisms for the actions of
the separate services to turn them into an effective, multi-faceted crisis response
mechanism.
IMPRESS improves the efficiency of decision making in emergency health operations.
The project provides a modular Incident Management & Decision Support System that
can effectively manage diverse response teams & medical resources and prepare and
coordinate response activities, using data from multiple heterogeneous sources.
IMPESS aims to:
 Re-balance disproportion between response needs and health system capacity
 Remediate the information deficit with rapid collection & exchange of adequate infor-
mation.
 Support decision making according to impact of crisis and incident type
 Improve response and preparedness level of Health services based on efficient plan-
ning, integral organization and comprehensive training
 Enhance interoperability within same and among different EMS organizations via a com-
mon taxonomy & Semantic Reference Model

2. Τhe first IMPRESS real-life pilot was successfully
conducted in Palermo, Italy on 7 June 2016, in
the framework of a large-scale civil protection
multi-agency exercise, locally organized by the
National Research Council of Italy in cooperation
with the Civil Protection of Palermo.
The health emergency exercise scenario in-
volved a fire on-board a cargo ship moored in
front of the Palermo harbor, in the sea, right in
front of the Palermo promenade. The fire could
not be extinguished and the captain and crew
should abandon ship. Due to Northeasterly winds
the plume of toxic substances released in the fire
reached the densely populated area of Kalsa
District. Several victims were reported which
needed medical attention and transportation to
nearby hospitals; essentially triggering a mass
casualty emergency operation.
The exercise organization requested a commit-
ment of 21 public organizations, 624 people, 110
ground vehicles, 10 ambulances, 17 ships and
boats and 5 airborne means. Six (6) operational
centers, equipped with IMPRESS incident man-
agement and DSS tools, have been installed in
the facilities of the Italian Coast Guard, the Ad-
vance Medical Post created in Puntone dock at
the Port area of Palermo (AMP A), the Regional
Ambulance Dispatch Center (118), the Crisis Unit
of the Prefecture of Palermo, the Emergency
Department of the Hospital Buccheri La Ferla
and the Civil Protection Headquarter (SORIS), all
of them exchanging incident, patient, notification
and dispatch data in real time and coordinating
their response through the 1st integrated IM-
PRESS system. Handheld mobile devices, run-
ning the IMPRESS mobile application communi-
cating with the Incident Management and DSS
tools at the distributed operational centers, were
used to collect field and patient data and feed
decision support tools for prioritizing the patients’
triage list and select the proper hospital and route
to send the ambulances with the victims, as well
as optimize usage of available resources
(ambulances, beds).
All activity and assets along the whole emergen-
cy timeline from the burning ship till the hospitals
ED were continuously monitored and displayed
to the involved actors using the IMPRESS sys-
tem capabilities.
All operations in combination with the IMPRESS
system response were followed by an extended
list of international evaluators (4), ethics experts
(3) and observers (15), positioned at various key
places (on board a ship to follow the rescue at
sea and then the treatment and dispatch at the
Advanced Medical posts, or at Command and
Control centers of 118, Prefecture and the Hospi-
tal), who collected data and provided feedback
concerning the performance of the system to the
realistic requirements of the scenario.
The integrated IM-
PRESS system has
been tested in co-
operation with the
Crisis Management
and Disaster Re-
sponse Centre of
Excellence of
NATO in context of
the Consequence
Management Exer-
cise “CRNA GORA
2016”, which has
been conducted by
EADRCC from 31 October to 4 November 2016
in Podgorica (Montenegro). The exercise in-
volved 680 participants from 10 Partner and 7
Allied nations. The field exercise offered a great
opportunity to deploy and test IMPRESS compo-
nents (INCIMOB and INCIMAG) under realistic
health emergency conditions.
The scenario of the field exercise was based on a
large-scale flood and chemical incident and the
relative response and deployment of emergency
teams in eight main sites surrounding Podgorica,
the capital of Montenegro. According to the sce-
nario, approximately 14.000 people has been
affected by the floods. A large number of victims,
anticipated in the scenario, spread in the various
sites, has been rescued, triaged and transported
to the local hospital. IMPRESS has played the
role of the DSS system, improving preparedness
and response of the Health Services.
Mobile devices equipped with the INCIMOB ap-
plication for medical first responders were used
and field tested. They were connected with medi-
cal devices gathering vital signs of the victims
and interfaced with INCIMOB mobiles. CMDR
CoE personnel used INCIMOBs to gather field
data and triage victims in diverse sites, sending
relevant information to an interoperating Incident
Management Post with INCIMAG, set up in Ath-
ens, Greece at the premises of EKEPY of the
Ministry of Health.
In Danilovgrad bridge, the IMPRESS team in-
putted the victim’s information with the help of
CMDR-COE operator and transmitted all data
about the patients of a car crash, needing imme-
diate medical help along with rescue support, to
the INCIMAG located in Athens. For this pur-
pose, End users
from the MoH Ser-
vices, EKAV
(Ambulance Ser-
vice) and the Gen-
eral Secretariat of
Civil Protection
were trained on the
INCIMAG DSS
functionality and
DARIUS project was represented in
the 16th European RPAS Conference
and Policy Forum held the 25/6/2014
in the Royal Military Academy, Brus-
sels (B). The project results and
achievements were presented within
the section entitled «RPAS for Re-
search & Rescue». DARIUS project
presentation focused to the interopera-
bility potential ensured by DARIUS
solution.
IMPRESS Training in Sofia (BG)
An interactive training session of
IMPRESS project held with rep-
resentatives from the Bulgarian
public services in Sofia the 24th
February 2017. In the training
that was organized and hosted
by IICT-BAS, participated repre-
sentatives from Health Emer-
gency Services of Blagoevgrad,
Sandanski, Petrich, Kresna and
the Bulgarian Red Cross head-
quarter in Sofia.
IMPRESS Training
in Thessaloniki (GR)
A training session of IMPRESS
project dedicated to Greek users
from EKEPY, Ministry of Health,
GSCP, the National Emergency
Center (EKAB), Hellenic Center
for Disease Control & Preven-
tion, General Hospitals of Serres
Papanikolaou and Ippokrateio
held in Thessaloniki the 3rd of
March, 2017.
Participants of both workshops
familiarized with the project solu-
tion and physically trained to use
the mobile system component
(INCIMOB). In addition they
were trained remotely to the
functionalities of the backend
Incident Management system
(INCIMAG) of IMPRESS. The
participants introduced also to
the use of the on-line training
platform of IMPRESS, which is a
web tool for self-practicing in
IMPRESS issues.
IMPRESS in EENA 2017 Conf.
IMPRESS was a silver sponsor
of this year’s EENA conference,
presenting IMPRESS solution in
the Innovation Theatre of the
event the 5th April, 2017.
All IMPRESS components were
exhibited in booth 23 of the Con-
ference and their functionality
was lively demonstrated to the
visitors, linked to a remote serv-
er operating in Greece through-
out the conference, 5-7 April
2017.
IMPRESS workshop in Crete
The second week of April, KE-
MEA and EKEPY, organized in
Crete familiarization workshops
presenting IMPRESS solution to
representatives from the Region-
al and Local Health Services
(Health Adminsitration, Hospitals
& Ambulance Service) of Crete.
IMPRESS workshop in Nicosia
A familiarization workshop orga-
nized in Nicosia (CY) on April
19th for representatives from the
Ambulance Service, Fire Brigade
and Civil Defense First Re-
sponders and discussed poten-
tial future exploitation plans.
The above caused a large number of fatalities
and injuries requiring immediate response, pre-
hospital medical intervention and transportation
of casualties to nearby hospitals. Since transpor-
tation of victims to Sophia via the damaged E79
isn’t possible, the Bulgarian authorities requested
assistance through the European Emergency
Response Centre (EERC) in Brussels.
IMPRESS system components used in different
configurations simulating field data gathering
from multiple incident scenes and supporting
effective decision support for victims dispatch to
hospitals and optimal use of available resources.
The test proved IMPRESS capability to strength-
en coordination between response organizations
and the involved emergency medical services.
For the needs of the exercise, the scenario was
executed operating instances of IMPRESS Sys-
tem corresponding to the participating Agencies
from each country, deployed in two adjacent
rooms, simulating the relative response activity
in Greece and Bulgaria.
The following organizations actively participated
and operated the IMPRESS tools in the GB TTX:
Health Emergency Services from Blagoevgrad,
and Kresna, Hospital of Sandanski and Petrich,
Bulgarian Red Cross and Ministry of Interior;
Greek National Center for Health Operations,
General Secretariat of Civil Protection; National
Emergency Center, Hellenic Center for Disease
Control & Prevention, Papanikolaou, Ippokratio,
and Serres Hospital.
During the CRNA GORA
2016 exercise, the INCI-
MAG component was
receiving and displaying
situational reports and
victims’ data from Monte-
negro and forwarded
suggestions by the IM-
PRESS Recommenda-
tion Engine. Simulated
hospital data provided by
the WARSYS module of
IMPRESS were used to
demonstrate response
options, according to field
gathered information.