What is Urban Shield?
Urban Shield is a 48-hour, planned training exercise that began in 2007 for regional fire departments, medical services and local, state, federal and international first responder and law enforcement teams to prepare for and provide a unified response to disasters. First responders are presented with simulations of real-world emergencies and major crises, such as fire, mass casualty or bomb situations, at scenario sites across Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.
“Veoci was T & E’d (trial & error) during Urban Shield 2016. The customized software met the needs of an event with six medical assessment assets over 792 square miles to ensure we provided the best quality care to our first responders. The application was well received by clinical staff and was easy to implement with real-time training that is invaluable in a real world emergency.” – Brendalyn “Val” Bilotti, Emergency & Safety Consultant Medical Branch Chief for Urban Shield
This year’s Urban Shield was hosted by The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and ran from Friday, September 9 to Monday, September 12, 2016, with drills running all across the Bay Area. With hundreds of first responders (thirty-six Tactical Response teams of 8-10 members) with the unified goal of moving swiftly, responding effectively and mitigating or preventing disaster, Urban Shield is no joke. Team members need a way to stay in constant contact, act fast, and maintain the safety of the public as well as each other.
Four medical checkpoints are assembled in Oakland, Dublin, Stanford and San Francisco and one mdoc in the Alameda County EOC, all fully equipped with volunteers, doctors and nurses, and necessary medical supplies. Three Veoci team members traveled to Alameda County to train 288 medical volunteers on how to use Veoci for patient check-ins and how to track them as they move from checkpoint to checkpoint. The Veoci team trained volunteers on how to enter heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and other medical information into Veoci where volunteers at the next checkpoint can access it by simply scanning the patient’s badge, making it better prepared for the arrival of the next team. The Veoci team got all 288 team members processed into
Veoci in an hour less than the system they previously used. Within the Urban Shield Veoci Room, each medical checkpoint had a side room where they could store all patient information on custom forms, share pictures, video, audio and chat instantly with supervisors, tailgates, the main med doc, and other sites if there is an issue. When a patient checks in to the next medical checkpoint, all information from their previous checkpoints is instantly accessed.
Should a team member be injured or need medical assistance away from a medical tent, field workers performed on-site medical assessments, using the Veoci app on Android tablets. All participant medical information was instantly retrieved and edited from anywhere, at any time.
At Veoci, we’re big on being prepared. We work hard with organizations like Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to ensure that next time emergency strikes, every single person involved knows exactly what to do. These responders and medical volunteers sacrifice so much to be a part of the effort to save lives during an emergency, so we are proud to help simplify the process with just in time training, getting everyone on the same page and streamlining safety and response procedures.
“The system continuously tracked 288 participants over 48 hours and helped us complete our mission of force health protection.” – Val Bilotti
