Center employees descended to the 1,000-meter level. They were primarily employees of the Air Ambulance Service and specialists involved in the technical operation of the Command Support System of the National Medical Emergency Service (SWD PRM). The meeting was attended by Paweł Bąkała, director of the KCMRM, and representatives of the Medical Emergency Training Center, the SWD PRM development team and the cyber security team. During their visit to the mine, they paid special attention to the organization and dispatch of emergency services, as well as the safety procedures in place in such a demanding environment.
- From our point of view, the issue of accidents that can happen underground is strongly interesting - says Tomasz Draczyński, an instructor at the Medical Emergency Training Center. “In these very difficult conditions, it is surprising to us how far the miners have to get to do their work, so the logistics of rescue operations here is a huge challenge - the time for rescue workers to reach the injured is surprisingly long. All of this completely changes the way we think about rescue operations, comparing them to ground or water rescue. I am pleased and thankful for the opportunity to learn about the specifics of working in a mine - Tomasz Draczyński emphasizes.
Experts from the National Medical Emergency Monitoring Center pointed out the differences in dispatch operations. It is handled differently when an accident occurs on the road and differently when it happens in a mine.
- Learning about the mine allows us to understand why dispatchers dispatch medical emergency teams in such a specific way. In ground medical emergency operations, it is the team that goes to the patient. In a mine, it's often the other way around - it's the medical emergency team that waits for the injured person who needs to be evacuated from a very difficult area. And this cannot be rushed - you simply have to wait - said Tomasz Draczyński. “Providing help on the spot, the time it takes to reach miners at the working face is surprisingly long, which means that even a patient's condition that is not too severe - due to the prevailing conditions, transport time, worsening injury, or blood loss - can make his condition on the surface already very severe - Draczyński pointed out.
This valuable experience from the visit to the mine can translate into even better cooperation between mine rescue workers and teams of the National Medical Emergency Service. Such meetings foster the building of an effective response system in difficult and often extreme conditions.
- For us, it's important that emergency services from outside want to better understand what working in mining is all about. Our guests learned about its specifics, but we also showed them our new control center and rescue station - said Zbigniew Czarnecki, director of the Pniówek mine, adding: - I think that such an exchange of experience can translate into better understanding and more effective cooperation in emergency situations.
The National Medical Emergency Monitoring Center is responsible for supervising and coordinating the activities of the National Medical Emergency Services in Poland. The Center monitors and supports dispatching systems, manages calls and incidents, and conducts activities to improve the cooperation of emergency services in emergency situations. There are 23 medical control centers in Poland, 3 of which are located in the Silesian Voivodeship.
