Green light for EMuRgency project

In September 2011 the INTERREG project EMuRgency has started. This project, led by CELSTEC, focuses on the problems of cardiac arrest in the region Euregio Maas-Rijn (EMR). The primary goal of the project is to achieve that in case of a cardiac arrest bystanders start CPR before the emergency services arrive at the scene.

Life or dead

In the EMR region every year there are about 2.500 cases of cardiac arrest. In case of a cardiac arrest serious brain damage can occur after three minutes. The emergency services seldom manage to arrive within three minutes. Therefore CPR by layman, bystanders, can mean the difference between life and death. But in the Euregio in about 75% of the cases of cardiac arrest CPR has not been started when the ambulance arrives. Mostly because those present do not know what to do. The EMuRgency project want to change that through a combination of activities. A cross-border alarm system, a learning programme to teach people how to give CPR and a roadshow to train college students and to make them and their surroundings aware of their reponsibility.

Infrastructure

The project will develop and implement an alerting system in the whole region. In case of a cardiac arrest citizens who know how to give CPR are alerted and sent to the patient. Experiences from projects as SMS-Retter in Aachen (Germany), AED-Alert and Hart voor Limburg will be used in this activity. The 112 centre will find (spotting) and alert the nearest available persons skilled in CPR using their mobile phones. This system will function cross-borders.

Learning

Important is that more people learn how to give CPR. The project will develop a range of schooling possibilities. Apart from ‘classic’ e-learning content, innovative learning scenarios will be developed using mobiele devices and game patterns. The schooling will be organised for different target groups (children/teenagers/adults, non-professional and professional relief workers).

Roadshow Reanimation

In order to reach a large part of the college students in the Euregio a ‘Roadshow Reanimation’ is developed that can teach an entire college in CPR in one day. Two emergency doctors and ten other assistance workers (medicine students, volunteers of relief organisations) visit the school. In this way a critical mass of young people will be reached, but at the same time through conversations and information materials their surroundings (parents, teachers etc.) become aware of the problem and of the responsibilities of citizens for their fellow citizens.

Ultimate goal

In 2014, when the project finishes, the region will have the disposal of an innovative technical infrastructure that ensures the best and quickest alert of first-aid services. And it will offer a training of first aiders following the newest scientific ideas and methods. But the project also wants to strengthen the feeling of mutual responsibility in the population of the Euregio. The result should be that in more and more cases CPR will have started when the ambulance arrives.

Project partners

Apart from the Open Universiteit (Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies), the projectpartners zijn: Universitätsklinikum Aachen, RWTH Aachen, Maastricht University, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg (ZOL), K.U.Leuven, CHR Citadelle (CHR) en CECOTEPE ASBL.

The project is financed by European Regional Development Funds, different regions from EMR & different institutions.