Rapid response group

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Vehicle of a rapid response group of the Berlin DRK on December 19, 2016 in Berlin

A rapid response group (abbreviation: SEG ) refers to a group of emergency services in Germany who are trained and equipped in such a way that they can take care of the injured , sick and other affected persons in the event of a large number of injured people or unusual events .

Demarcation

In Austria , the term is synonymous with the Emergency Response Units of the Red Cross in the sense of rapid foreign aid.

At the technical relief organization , the term is used in some places for the advance units of a technical train (→  THW rapid deployment group ).

The abbreviation "SEG" occasionally does not stand for Rapid Response Group , but for Special Task Force or Special Task Force, even in the case of non-police aid organizations. Especially in the Samariterbund Austria , the SEG is understood to mean the “Special Emergency Group”. These are specialized emergency services of various types for civil protection such as logistics , search dogs , CBRNE and catering .

Duties of a SEG

In general, a rapid response group supports and supplements the rescue service provided for individual emergencies by providing material, rescue equipment and volunteer personnel with appropriate training in the event of major damage .

Any necessary infrastructure can be created and operated at the deployment site . These include lighting, power supply and mobile accommodation (including medical tents ). In addition, there is support in maintaining communication (radio and possibly telephone network). This also includes the medical care of the lightly injured, the transport of the injured and the care and care of uninjured victims.

Distinction

There are several types of Rapid Response Groups. These can vary between the individual federal states, regional authorities and organizations or the local needs and possibilities. They are typically differentiated according to their areas of responsibility, although mixed forms are possible.

Treatment of patients

The focus here is on treating patients on site, less on transport. Such a SEG is able to set up a patient support, to set up and operate an accident relief center or a treatment center or a part thereof. The typical name for this is the rapid deployment group medical service (abbreviation: SEG-San ), sometimes the name rapid deployment group treatment ( SEG-Beh ) is also used. If an SEG is explicitly available as a supplement to the rescue service qualified by the rescue service, one speaks of a rapid response group rescue service ( SEG-RD ). This SEG-RD also takes on tasks in patient transport (see next section).

Transport of patients

These rapid response groups primarily serve to reinforce the rescue service with qualified personnel or to transport patients with an MANV and are equipped with a large number of vehicles for patient transport (e.g. ambulance , KTW , 4-stretcher KTW , occasionally also large-capacity ambulance ). In addition to any rapid emergency rescue service groups , special transport units are also used, which are usually referred to as rapid emergency response groups ( SEG-Trp ). In Baden-Wuerttemberg, a nationally standardized transport module was created and financed specifically for the transport of patients; these are equipped with two ambulances and are the first modules to be used in civil protection due to their rapid availability.

Care and catering for the uninjured

Rapid response groups, which are provided for the care of uninjured persons, provide for the collection, accommodation and social care (e.g. at a care place) and / or for the provision of food and drinks. Such units are usually called rapid deployment group care (abbreviation: SEG-Bt SEG-B ) or rapid deployment group catering ( SEG-Vpf , SEG-V ).

Support other units

In the case of larger deployments, the operational management has an increased need for auxiliary staff for general support in management and, in particular, communication within the deployment or with higher-level management levels . There are also corresponding task forces, usually referred to as the rapid deployment group for leadership support (abbreviation: SEG-FüUst ) or rapid deployment group for information and communication ( SEG-IuK ).

The Rapid Response Group Technology and Safety (abbreviations: SEG-TuS. SEG-T + S , SEG-TeSi ) or Rapid Response Group Logistics and Technology ( SEG-LuT ) supports the units of the medical or care service with special technical equipment and expertise, e.g. B. Power supply and lighting, heating, water supply and disposal, sanitary facilities and the concern for occupational safety in use. The tasks are similar to those of the technical teams of operational units .

Special cases

For use on or near the water as well as in mountainous terrain or with the need for special techniques and equipment (e.g. for cave rescue ) there are separate rapid response groups, e.g. B. in the form of a rapid action group water rescue (abbreviation: SEG-WR ) or a rapid action group mountain rescue .

If it becomes necessary to care for and transport patients under special protection, then there are units equipped accordingly. Typically these are the rapid action group dangerous substances and goods (abbreviation: SEG-GSG ) and the rapid action group infection ( SEG-Infekt )

To search for missing or buried people, the aid organizations also have rescue dog teams in place, which can be organized in a rapid response group of rescue dogs (abbreviation: SEG-RH ).

These special groups are often necessary for the individual care of individual patients because, in contrast to the regular rescue service , they are trained and equipped for these special occasions.

equipment

The equipment depends on the task and local or internal organization guidelines. The financing of the material and the clothing is kind and monetary donations ensured as well as public subsidies (municipality, state, federal), this is also varies locally.

The most important features of a SEG, regardless of their use, are:

  • Radio receiver or comparable systems for quick alarms
  • Vehicles that are ready for use (including loaded material)
  • Radio devices for connection to the responsible control center and for communication on site

A SEG differs from old-style disaster control units, some of which were only able to order the vehicles and load them with material in the event of an alarm.

staff

The number of staff in a SEG is typically between 8 and 16 helpers (group size).

The helpers are usually volunteers and belong to an aid organization. In some places, a SEG is formed by various aid organizations in cooperation.

The training corresponds to the respective task, including knowledge in the medical field ( paramedics , helpers with advanced rescue service training, doctors), operational tactics, materials and technology, social care, construction and operation of accommodation, catering for those affected, logistics, supply and Disposal.

Alerting

The staff is usually equipped with radio signal receivers and is alerted by the control center as required . Telephone chains or automatic SMS alerts are also common. In addition, there are systems in which the helpers are automatically called on the telephone or mobile phone, a recorded message is played back with the message image and feedback is received from the emergency services.

Further use

In some places, the staff of a SEG is also deployed as on-site helpers to take over the initial care of emergency patients and to bridge the time until the rescue service arrives at the emergency location (the so-called "therapy-free interval"). Trained personnel can be alerted quickly and they are equipped with vehicles.

Well-rehearsed SEGs are also an important aid for planned medical security services on the occasion of major events, as they are prepared to take care of a larger number of those affected (examples: 2006 World Cup in Germany, Carnival Monday procession in Mainz ).

history

At the end of the 1970s, it became apparent in Germany that the provision of daily emergency services, especially in rural areas, was insufficient when there was a large number of people in need of care. The rescue service structures were geared towards individual medical emergencies. The classic disaster control units in the form of medical and support trains turned out to be unsuitable for immediate deployment due to their focus on the need for a defense , they had a call time of several days in some cases, and in very few cases the helpers deployed had rescue service training.

Local structures that are comparable to today's rapid response groups have existed for decades: The term "readiness" for a local unit, which has been in use at the German Red Cross since 1933, implies the claim to prepared assistance in the event of a damage situation, in line with the self-image of the latter Aid organization. In earlier German history, the formation of local Samaritan associations was not uncommon as early as the turn of the 20th century, as there was no regulated emergency care outside of large cities. These then also provided help in major cases of damage.

At the BASF chemical plant in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , among other things, after the experience of two major accidents in 1921 and 1948 , the company medical service was structured in such a way that the in-house medical service could provide disaster relief very quickly and was managed centrally by an operations management team.

Several major incidents of damage in the 1970s and the bomb attack at the Oktoberfest in Munich in 1980 gave further impetus to push forward the considerations for the formation of local, quickly deployable aid groups. Initially, it was also the big cities ( Bonn , Dortmund , Munich , Wiesbaden ) that took up the topic. In rural areas it was not uncommon for local branches of aid organizations, e.g. B. to provide a medical service for fire brigade operations.

The first rapid response groups of today's character (with comparable vehicle and material equipment) mostly emerged from dedicated sub-units of the medical trains.

At the latest when the extended federal disaster control units ceased to exist at the end of the 1980s, the federal states had to take on this task themselves. In the course of this restructuring it was possible to implement ideas from the rapid response groups in many places. Some countries decided to follow the classic concept of civil protection trains , from which an advance unit that could be quickly alerted could be outsourced as a SEG. Other federal states relied entirely on the structures of the rapid deployment groups without forming superordinate tactical units .

The advantage of the SEGn was seen primarily in that it could be set up in a spatially distributed manner and could therefore be deployed relatively quickly across the board, comparable to a volunteer fire brigade. The likelihood of deployment increased compared to the old disaster relief trains, so that one could motivate the helpers again to get involved.

Special cases have already arisen here, such as relatively large units of train strength with fast deployment times ( rapid deployment train , e.g. SEG Kassel rescue train ) or interdisciplinary units ( deployment units ).

At the beginning of the 1990s, the German Red Cross developed the concept of operational units, which was implemented nationwide. Here, the medical team could be alerted individually as a rapid action group.

The rapid response groups initially had a relatively poor acceptance among employees of the rescue service, as they were not aware of any real need and often dismissed the commitment as a " hobby ". During this time, however, some of the most influential events for disaster control in Germany occurred (e.g. the flight conference accident at Ramstein in 1988, the ICE accident at Eschede in 1998, the train accident at Brühl in 2000) and confirmed the concept of distributed but quickly alerted units to support the Ambulance service.

Since the major damage events after the turn of the millennium ( terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the USA , Elbe floods in 2002 , Madrid train attacks in 2004, terror attacks on July 7, 2005 in London , Münsterland snow chaos in 2005) and in the course of the planning for the 2006 World Cup with the The need for structured supraregional assistance is the tendency towards the fact that the rapid response groups are again combined into larger associations for such operations. At the same time, separate large federal units are being set up again ( Medical Task Force ).

References and comments

  1. ↑ Definition according to DIN 13050 "Rescue services - terms"
  2. ^ Website of the Austrian Red Cross on the subject of "ERU" ( Memento from April 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Guideline for the medical and care service of the disaster control of the aid organizations in Bavaria from March 13, 2009, as of August 28, 2009.
  4. ↑ ManV Concept Baden-Württemberg from August 1, 2016
  5. ↑ Guidelines for the installation and use of Bavarian water rescue trains in disaster control, Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, ID4-2252.12-142 of March 10, 2009.
  6. ↑ Setup and deployment concept for the Rapid Task Force Infekt (SEG Infekt), Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, ID4-2252.26-8 of January 2, 2007.
  7. ↑ a b c Heinrich-Horst Hellweg: SEG development history, problems, perspectives. In: Volume of papers on the 14th Federal Congress Rescue Service Cologne 1994 , Verlag Stumpf & Kossendey, Edewecht 1994, ISBN 3-923124-56-2 .
  8. ↑ For example, the first rapid deployment group founded at the Bavarian Red Cross in the district of Ebersberg and functioning according to today's characteristics has been proven for 1979.