Saving Lives across Borders - Improving German-Polish Paramedic Cooperation

Project partners in front of the University of Greifswald. Photo: Till Juncker

The lifesaving principle of transporting a severely ill or injured patient to the nearest hospital can be a very challenging task in the border region between Germany and Poland. There are currently no binding legal regulations and instructions for cross-border emergency healthcare. This results in German and Polish paramedics frequently finding themselves in situations in which the care of patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries is prolonged unacceptably due to linguistic and logistic barriers and the lack of framework conditions for cross-border emergency healthcare. This should soon belong to the past.

The kick-off event for the German-Polish project “Integrated Cross-Border Emergency Medical Service Pomerania/Brandenburg (InGRiP)” will take place on the 25th January 2018 in the University and Hanseatic Town of Greifswald. The project is being funded as part of the European Union’s Interreg V A with 2 million euros. Media representatives are very welcome to take part in the event (see programme). There will be the chance to discuss the project with the project partners at the press conference at 2.00 p.m. 

The demographic development with a growing number of elderly citizens, the increasing intertwining of the societies on both sides of the border and the growing tourism sector in the popular German-Polish Baltic Sea region are leading to an increase in the number of medical emergencies. German or Polish patients regularly have to be transferred to another ambulance at the border, because the legal basis for cross-border emergency healthcare is currently inadequate. The situation regarding the air-rescue service is even more complicated, because helicopters are not allowed to fly over international borders. These missing prerequisites for bilateral support in emergency medical care have also prevented language barriers from being dismantled and integrative processes from being put into action that would enable a consistent level of training in the management of emergencies. 

In the next three years, project partners from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg and the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship will analyse the overall situation systematically to identify solutions for a functional and legally sound German-Polish emergency medical service. At the same time, an extensive training programme will be implemented to improve the understanding of the respective foreign medical language for paramedics stationed in the bordering regions, and to give them the opportunity to practise the joint handling of emergency scenarios at simulators. The official start signal for the project, which will have a pioneering effect for other border regions, will be given at the kick-off event on the 25th January in Greifswald, where the project will be presented to the public for the first time.

 

Kick-Off Event

Integrated Cross-Border Emergency Medical Service Pomerania/Brandenburg (InGRiP)
Thursday, 25th January 2018
Conference Room, Domstraße 11 (Entrance II), 17489 Greifswald

 

Programme

10.00 a.m. - Opening Address
Prof. Dr. Klaus Hahnenkamp, Director of the Clinic for Anaesthesiology, University Medicine Greifswald, Dirk Scheer, Councillor and Head of Division, District of Vorpommern-Greifswald

10.20 a.m. - Address
Dr. Barbara Syrbe, District Commissioner of the District of Vorpommern-Greifswald 

10.30 a.m. - Address
Dr. Paweł Rodzoś, Director of the Department of Safety and Crisis Managment, West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office in Szczecin

10.40 a.m. - Introductory Words about the Project
Dr. Lutz Fischer, Head Doctor of the Paramedic Services in the District of Vorpommern-Greifswald

10.55 a.m. - Introductory Words about the Project
Roman Pałka, Director of the Voivodeship’s Paramedic Services in Szczecin

11.10 a.m. - InGRiP - Presentation of the Project
Prof. Dr. Konrad Meissner, Deputy Director of the Clinic for Anaesthesiology, University Medicine Greifswald

11.30 a.m. - Language Training for Emergency Healthcare
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Brehmer, Chair of Slavonic Linguistics, University of Greifswald

11.45 a.m. - The Situation in the District of Märkisch-Oderland
Dipl. Ing. Armin Viert, General Manager, Communal Emergency Medical Service Märkisch-Oderland

12.15 p.m. - Sustainability of the Project Goals
Prof. Dr. Steffen Fleßa, Chair of General Business Administration and Health Management, University of Greifswald

12.30 p.m. - Closing Words
Prof. Dr. Marek Zygmunt, Director of the Clinic and Outpatient Clinic for Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University Medicine Greifswald

12.45 p.m. - Get Together (Conference Room)

 

2.00 p.m. - PRESS CONFERENCE (Konzilsaal)

University Medicine Greifswald, Clinic for Anaesthesiology
Anaesthesiology, Intensive, Emergency and Pain Medicine
Director: Prof. Dr. med. Klaus Hahnenkamp
Project Manager InGRiP: Prof. Dr. Konrad Meissner
Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Straße,  17475  Greifswald
Tel.: +49 3834 86 5801
email: anaethesiologie@uni-greifswald.de
Project Office: Kathrin Krügel
Tel.: + 49 3834 86 5641
email: ingrip-projektuni-greifswaldde
www.medizin.uni-greifswald.de
www.facebook.com/UnimedizinGreifswald
Twitter@UMGreifswald

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