Coping with the Coronavirus – Rambam Healthcare Campus in Israel joins forces with Elbit Systems to deploy EX-TEAMS management & control technology.
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Press Release, Haifa, 06 April 2020: The Rambam Healthcare Campus in Haifa, Israel starts operating EX-TEAMS, a cellular based management and control system that was jointly developed with Elbit Systems. EX-TEAMS is based on an Elbit Systems’ Command & Control (C2) technology that was re-purposed in recent weeks for management and control of medical workforce and patients. The development effort was led by Doctor Oren Caspi from Rambam and a team from Elbit Systems.
The EX-TEAMS system has been already installed on the personal cellular handsets to 100 medical professionals who directly provide care to Coronavirus patients providing the teams with enhanced capabilities 24/7. Rambam intends to soon extend the deployment to more than 1,000 of its employees. “Defeating the Coronavirus requires a joint effort and multi-disciplinal cooperation-high-tech, defence and medical”, noted Dr. Caspi, adding “the challenge is the sharp increase the number of patients and beds, which is compounded by a deficient workforce that operates under protective cloth in a noisy environment. Coping with such an accumulative challenge clarifies the insufficiency of the traditional methods for management, communication and coordination (PA system, Pagers, Walkie Talkies). Effective answer to such a management and control challenge is critical calling for the implementation of an advanced and proven military-like command and control technology.”
EX-TEAMS is a cellular cloud-based application that is installed on the personal mobile phones of teams that operate in the healthcare campus, enabling to manage missions performed by large and diverse workforce operating in a range of locations reflecting a comprehensive real-time picture of all operations and needs across the healthcare campus. EX-TEAMS provides location-based personal and group voice data and video communications that are seamlessly operated also under protective suites. It also enables a typing-less medical paperwork processing. The system prioritises response efforts, efficient mission-focused allocation of workforce and assets and rapid assignment and deployment of emergency teams. All the transmitted information is encrypted maintaining security and medical confidentiality. The EX-TEAMS can be deployed within few days requiring neither investment in new equipment nor changes to existing communication and IT networks.
Michael (Mickey) Halbertal, General Director of Rambam Health Care Campus, said: “The Coronavirus situation is a war the like of which we have never fought before. We are encouraged to receive great help from allies in the Israeli high-tech that will allow us to cope and prevail. In the next phase during which we will have to provide care for patients in large numbers, management and control of medical and logistical team will make the difference between failure and success. The amazing capability of Elbit to provide us with a winning technological solution is an example of the unique capacity of the Israeli high-tech to enlist, adapt and win.”
Haim Delmar, the General Manager of Elbit Systems C4I & Cyber, commented: “We are proud to be in a position to apply advanced and proven battlefield technological capabilities in order to improve the operations of medical centres and additional organisations that stand in the frontlines of the fight against the Coronavirus. I thank Rambam’s team for the cooperation.”
Background: Rambam Health Care Campus is a 1000-bed world-class teaching hospital. The patient population is diverse, as Rambam is the major tertiary (referral) medical centre for all of Northern Israel, including12 district hospitals and defence and peacekeeping forces stationed in the region. Serving more than two million residents and others referred from all over Israel, the Mediterranean region, and around the world, Rambam is strategically located in Haifa on the Mediterranean coast and plays a critical role in the healthcare of the region’s residents, in addition to making a major contribution to the economy of the north.
