An innovative device developed to keep track of patients in a disaster zone has been successfully used today to help in the evacuation of people from the community of Warruwi.
More than 300 people have been moved from the small community on Goulburn Island in Western Arnhem Land to Darwin, out of the path of Tropical Cyclone Lam.
The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) IT Manager Charles Blundell explained the innovative device is using similar technology to supermarket bar coding – a person wears a simple wristband with a bar code – developed to keep track of patients in a disaster zone and ensures data is swiftly and securely sent to incident communication control managers.
“Today each evacuee was issued with the wristband, scanned and assigned to a flight and then the information logged into TrackMi including the time, flight number and time of departure. The rapid relay of data has enabled personnel in Darwin to be prepared for the number of evacuees at a particular time,” he said.
Upon arrival at Foskey Pavilion the wristband of each person was scanned by the Red Cross using a handheld scanning device ensuring the smooth coordination of emergency management.
TrackMi, developed by the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre and funded by the Federal Attorney-General’s office since 2010, was originally developed to track patients in a disaster zone to allow for early medical resource allocation.
However TrackMi has many other uses beyond tracking patients – one of which is to monitor movements of people during cyclone evacuations.
The NCCTRC has shared the technology with every State and Territory and it has proved so cost-effective and efficient in trials that it has attracted international interest.
TrackMi has previously been used to keep track of patients being moved from one hospital to another on the Gold Coast, Perth and will be used later this month in the ACT.
“We are proud to have developed this technology locally and to see it used to help keep Territorians safe is very rewarding,” Mr Blundell said.
The Centre remains on standby in full readiness should it be required to respond in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Lam.