DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY

Text message-based resource management tools for austere environments

Take control of resource supply and demand from any mobile phone

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Immediately after the disaster strikers, Beacon helps responders take control of a range of resource management tasks:

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TEAM MOBILIZATION

Alert and mobilize a team comprised of members with varying skills and capabilities to be deployed on a short timeframe. Beacon provides end-to-end automation of team mobilization including alerts, selection criteria, coordination and tracking for all members via simple text message.

Mobile Dispatching for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue

COMMUNITY SEARCH AND RESCUE

Dispatch community responders to carry out local response operations, including search and rescue in areas where formal resources are unavailable or inaccessible.

Photo by: Rescate Ambar – Puerto Plata, D.R.

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EVACUATIONS AND INTER-FACILITY REFERRALS

Ensure that the right patients are sent to the right facilities. Coordinate patient evacuations and referrals between temporary and permanent health installations based on acuity and available resources.

Photo by: Rescate Ambar – Puerto Plata, D.R.

Mobile Dispatching for Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camps

INTERNALLY-DISPLACED PERSON (IDP) CAMPS

When IDP camps pop up in hard-to-reach and marginalized areas, Beacon can be set up as the local dispatching system to report and monitor emerging public health threats, like cholera, dysentery, interpersonal violence, and other acute emergencies.

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CLUSTER SYSTEM RESOURCE COORDINATION

This is Beacon’s default messaging: “We need [1 Ambulance] to pick up [X Patients] at [Hospital Y] and deliver them to [Hospital Z].” With a few quick changes, Beacon can go from medical response to logistics coordination: “We need [1 Truck] to pick up [5 Generators] at [UN Base Camp] and deliver them to [Field Hospital A].”

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HEALTH SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING

When the immediate response phase of the disaster has passed and the international teams have left, Beacon can continue to be used as the area’s dispatching system. Because Beacon is stored in the cloud, and the public requests assistance using a local number, the only variable that would change is the destination facilities that patients are being transferred to.

Beacon’s modular design architecture, flexible configurations, and easy content customization make it ready for a range of plug-and-play disaster response scenarios.

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HOW IT WORKS

COMMUNITY-BASED DISASTER RESPONSE

1. INTERROGATION

Someone needing assistance contacts the call center; the dispatcher obtains pertinent information regarding location, nature of complaint, and severity of the situation (i.e., life-threatening vs. non-life-threatening)

2. DISPATCH

The Dispatcher broadcasts the information taken from the caller to available responders informing them, at a minimum, of the location and nature of the incident

3. CONFIRM ON-SCENE

The Responders indicate that they have arrived on-scene and located the patient, ensuring no one is overlooked

4. SCENE SIZE-UP / TRIAGE

The Responder(s) assess the scene to identify and risks to their safety and then determine if additional resources are needed

5. TRANSPORT

When necessary, and if possible, Responders provide transport to an appropriate destination – e.g., a hospital, evacuation shelter, friends/family residence, dry ground etc.

6. COMPLETION

The Responder(s) indicate that their has ended when the response is complete to ensure maximum efficiency and avoid redundant dispatching

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BLOG POST: “How To Set Up a Community Response Network for the Next Hurricane”


“The Startup That Aims to be Uber for War Zones”

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INTERESTED IN A DEMO?

Send us an email to let us know how Beacon could help your operations today.

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Beacon Features:

  • Low-tech set-up — A single internet connected-device is required to launch
  • Universal accessibility — Can be used on any mobile phone, whether smartphone or feature phone, with or without internet connectivity
  • Easy-to-use interface — Text message interactions require minimal input, are easily followed, and are predictable; Admin and Dispatch interface is intuitive and accessible on any device
  • Automated control – After creating the initial alert, all resource coordination is automated, eliminating the need for dispatchers to micromanage individual resources
  • Low-maintenance operations — No need to download apps or worry about updates; just register the Responder’s mobile phone number and they’re ready to go
  • Modular architecture for easy customization — Beacon v2.0 has been re-built using a modular architecture to enable custom changes to message content and response sequence workflow
  • Remote access or local installation — The Beacon platform is open source and freely available. However, not everyone has software programmers on staff, so we can make Beacon available to you at a nominal cost via access to our remote servers. For installation on local servers, we’re also available to discuss more

Disaster Response and Recovery Features:

  • Multiple configurations — Allows for a range of resource types and kinds to be posted to different lists and sub-lists for scalable group management
  • Flexible command and control structures — Beacon has been built for multiple services to be operating jointly and/or independently through flexible data centers
  • Multi-lingual capabilities — Beacon has robust language controls to allow multiple languages to be used simultaneously on different components, whether as an Admin, Dispatcher, or Field User