#9 Research meet-up: Planning ambulances and helicopters in emergency situations

Emergency medical services need to decide both where response vehicles should wait and which vehicle should respond when a call arrives. In this research meet-up, led by Karen Aardal from Delft University of Technology, we explored how analytics are used for locating and dispatching ambulances and helicopters while maintaining emergency coverage across regions.

Why is emergency vehicle planning difficult?

In life-threatening situations, response time matters. But sending the closest available ambulance is only one part of the problem.

Planners also need to determine where ambulances should be stationed, how many vehicles each location needs and how dispatch decisions affect the coverage that remains for the next emergency.

If several vehicles are already responding to calls, a dispatch decision can leave another part of the region without sufficient coverage.

Why is this a prescriptive analytics problem?

Location models compare possible places to station emergency vehicles. Dispatch algorithms then determine how available vehicles should be assigned to incoming calls.

Throughout this meet-up, we reviewed both types of methods, with a particular focus on road ambulances and emergency helicopters. The session also briefly considered applications to firefighting services.

How was the project developed?

The work presented grew from a large Dutch research project involving university researchers, representatives from several emergency regions in the Netherlands, and the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

The collaboration connected mathematical models with the operational requirements of emergency response organisations.