Analytics for a Better World: Saving lives by using emergency medical response vehicles efficiently

Speakers: Karen Aardal, Delft University of Technology

Thursday, April 22, 2021. 11.00 EDT(Boston time), 17.00 CET (Amsterdam time)

In life-threatening situations each second counts. It is therefore of utmost importance that emergency medical response vehicles are used efficiently. This involves determining ambulance location sites, and the number of vehicles that should be stationed at these sites, as well as using dispatch policies that keep sufficient coverage even when a subset of vehicles are dispatched to calls. In this seminar we will review emergency medical response vehicle location models and dispatch algorithms with a focus on ambulances on wheels and helicopters. A brief extension to fire fighter services will also be made. The main body of the work presented here is an outcome of a large Dutch research project involving university researchers, representatives from various emergency regions of the Netherlands, and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands.