Within the EMRIC collaboration, both ambulance services and hospitals work together to provide the best possible service to citizens. About 900 cross-border ambulance deployments per year and agreements and information exchange between hospitals make the Meuse-Rhine Euregion a unique region in Europe. In addition to hospitals and ambulance deployments, EMRIC facilitates collaboration between the services responsible for monitoring infectious diseases. Viruses do not stop at the border. This makes sharing information crucial to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Infectious diseases
Infectious diseases are caused by microbiological pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. These microorganisms can be spread via other people (through, for example, coughing or sexual contact), through contact with animals, insect bites or from the environment (for example, contaminated water or food). Timely detection and control of infectious diseases is very important to prevent further spread.
In a border region like the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion where large numbers of people cross national borders every day, a local outbreak of an infectious disease can quickly have international consequences. Each region that is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion has its own public authority responsible for local infectious disease control. They carry out source and contact investigations, provide information and, if necessary, take measures.
Within the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, these authorities regularly share relevant information and cooperate closely when an infectious disease crosses or threatens to cross the national border. Common Euroregional notification agreements and outbreak protocols support this. In this way, spread in the Euroregion can be contained to keep the population healthy. This structural information exchange and cross-border cooperation is partly made possible by EMRIC.
Examples of cooperation in the context of general infectious disease control include a report of a German measles patient who had been in a Dutch restaurant, a norovirus outbreak among Dutch schoolchildren with a source in Belgium, an meningococcal infection of a German student living in the Netherlands or a hepatitis A outbreak at a Belgian school also attended by Dutch children. Major infectious disease outbreaks where information was exchanged within the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion are of course the Covid-19 pandemic from early 2020 to mid-2023, but also the EHEC epidemic in Germany (2011) and the Q fever epidemic in the Netherlands (2009). In addition, in response to the Covid-19 control issues in the Euroregion, EMRIC worked on the Pandemric project, in which research was conducted to promote Euroregional cooperation in the event of a pandemic or large-scale outbreak of an infectious disease, a Euroregional dashboard was maintained and a weekly summary of measures was produced from the three countries.
Ambulance care
During medical emergencies, treatment is often so urgent that an ambulance must be sent immediately. In border regions, a foreign ambulance may arrive faster than an ambulance from your own country. However, due to differences in legislation and regulations, it is not evident that ambulances are allowed to cross the border. Thanks to the efforts of EMRIC, foreign ambulances within the Meuse-Rhine Euregion can cross the border in these cases to quickly provide the necessary care. In total, more than 900 ambulances cross the border within the Meuse-Rhine Euregio every year, which is about 2-3 per day.
112
Wherever you are in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, you always call 112 in case of an emergency. If you use a mobile phone and you are in a border area, a foreign network reception can cause the 112 call to end up at a foreign dispatch office. The EMRIC collaboration ensures that the call is forwarded to the dispatch office of the region (country) in which you are. This guarantees that the fastest ambulance will be sent to the scene.
Hospitals
Based on the urgency and the patient's condition and wishes, an ambulance chooses the hospital that can provide the best care for the patient. A few examples:
EMRIC ensures that those responsible for the emergency departments within the Euregio Meuse-Rhine exchange information about their working methods, share best practices and discuss past incidents to improve care. In addition, agreements have been made within the EMRIC collaboration about the distribution of casualties during large-scale incidents. This distribution among the hospitals within the region is based on the hospital capacity and the patient's requirements for care (specialisms).
In short, the EMRIC collaboration ensures that patients are treated in the most suitable hospital, hospitals can learn from each other and that hospital capacities in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion are fully utilized.