Refugee First Response Center: from Idea to Execution to live Implementation in 6 weeks

I’d like to share a story that has touched me, particularly when I recall the big smile of Fahrdin, a young Afghan boy. It’s a story about humanity, technology and our new neighbours in Hamburg, the city where I live. I am working in the IT industry, don't speak his language and know little about his home country – nevertheless I was able to help him.

Can technology help Refugees?

The refugee situation, given its sheer scale, requires all of us to help in some way. Fittingly, Chancellor Merkel’s famous remark “We will manage” starts with the word “we”. I work in a multinational high-tech company that’s connecting the world, and I feel that I have both a personal and a professional duty to help.

At the refugee registration points in Hamburg, local citizens have accomplished incredible things. Some of us from Cisco were there, helping to sort clothing amid the multilingual confusion. It was here that an idea was born to overcome language barriers by using technology, and to do so quickly and pragmatically. In just six short weeks.

Be the Bridge – All-In-for-Good.

For several years now, Cisco has been involved in driving innovation with Hamburg’s policymakers and business community. We are now able to build on that network, and our greatest strength would be this sense of “us”. On four slides, we outlined our idea to set up a central service center point through which to deliver initial medical care. What then usually happens in large corporations, the "Innovation-Immunsystem" gets activated automatically. Who will pay for such a project without a business case? What is the go-to-market?

Through the global Cisco initiative “Be the Bridge – All-In-for-Good”, we raised the five-digit sum that was needed in record time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues and the management team at Cisco Central Europe. Thank you very much for your faith and courage. You make me proud!

To proceed fast, we initiated an operation in which all decision-makers convened at one table contributing their expertise and technical capabilities. This group included the University Medical Center in Eppendorf (UKE) which represents the pinnacle of medical expertise in Hamburg; avodaq AG, our partner for many years for large-scale, high-tech integration projects; SAVD Videodolmetschen, that provides the essential remote interpreting services via video; and the MLOVE innovation network – leading the outfitting of the container.

Smart City Hamburg

All these players are involved in Hamburg’s Smart City movement born out of the memorandum of understanding that was signed by Cisco, an open eco-system of partners, and the city of Hamburg back in April 2014. Frank Horch, Hamburg’s Senator for Economy, Transport & Innovation, said at that time: “Hamburg is an incubator of new trends where innovations and technologies are developed for a worthwhile future.” The Refugee First Response Center is a manifestation of this.

The Refugee First Response Center

Since beginning of November the Refugee First Response Center is fully operational at the refugee registration center on Hamburg’s Rugenbarg road. On the outside, it’s just an unpretentious, white, 20-foot international shipping container; on the inside it offers everything in terms of medical emergency facilities, advanced communication technology, from free Wi-Fi for doctors and refugees with an LTE backup, to systems that enable remote interpreting via video in high definition during initial medical consultations.

But what does the Refugee First Response Center do exactly? Until recently, there had to be up to five interpreters standby to cover the five key languages typically spoken by refugees – Urdu (for Kurds), Albanian, Farsi (for Afghans, Iranians and Iraqis), Arabic (for Syrians), Tigrinya (for Eritreans and Ethiopians), and Serbian.

In the Refugee First Response Center, doctors and paramedics examining refugees have access to 750 medically trained interpreters who cover around 50 different languages – and all that simply by pressing a button. Interpreters can join a patient consultation via HD video link within two minutes and can assist with decisions to initiate medical treatment or trauma therapy as appropriate. Over a two-week period in November, almost 400 requests for translation via HD video were called in during primary, initial medical examinations. Feedback from medical staff has been positive across the board. Language is key to support.

Great technology, great start

There’s no end in sight to the refugee crisis, and everyone simply has to keep helping as best as they can. In just six weeks, a valuable and meaningful project has come about that offers real humanitarian aid, and it’s impressive to see just how much can be achieved if the will is there. The fact that we can have such a positive impact through our company at the local level in Hamburg is simply incredible – right here, at our own doorsteps.

The center has been up and running almost four weeks now and the results are fascinating: The patients are clearly appreciative; the center has been met with huge approval among medical staff; and there’s a chance that more such installations will follow the pilot project, both in Hamburg and elsewhere.

What has come about through a spontaneous idea to “hack” a container and through our collaboration with both the department of public health and UKE, underlines the primary purpose of “smart health”: to help people. Judging by young Fahrdin’s smile, this is exactly what we have accomplished.

Everyone involved in the project hopes that it will not just serve as an example but will also ignite ideas elsewhere for ways in which technology can help people. If we manage to offer a little inspiration to others, then we’ll have accomplished a great deal.

Timelapse Video: the work of 6 weeks shrinked down to 2.5mins

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