Greenbelt, MD - ElanTech today announced that on March 30, 2011, it completed a successful tabletop simulation of its new (IMDSS-H) software tool, which will be used by public health incident response teams facing conflicting data and incomplete information when they arrive at the scene of a public health emergency. ElanTech is a government prime contractor specializing in the development of real-time web-based GIS solutions for emergency management.
The simulation was designed and executed by experts from the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR), a program partner of the IMDSS-H project, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
“This was a valuable exercise,” said Dr. Christina Catlett, Associate Director of CEPAR. “We were fortunate to be able to assemble a large group of disaster management experts from around the country to work through the scenario and assist ElanTech inentifying requirements for critical system components.”
Disaster management experts from across the nation gathered at Johns Hopkins’ Mt. Washington campus in north Baltimore to participate in the health emergency simulation, in which a health care facility was incapacitated, requiring the evacuation of patients to other facilities in the region. Participants were able to interact with IMDSS-H tools and weigh in on needed functionality. They also provided positive feedback on existing IMDSS-H features, including its ability to combine incident notification, chat-based communications, GIS mapping and action planning in a single interface.
“This exercise helped confirm we’re on the right track with this tool and gave us excellent input from public health professionals with real-world disaster experience,” said Swati Allen, President of ElanTech. “We’re grateful to our partners at Johns Hopkins for making this event possible.”
ElanTech began development of the original IMDSS system in 2009 under contract with the National Institute of Hometown Security (NIHS) which is funded by the Department of Homeland Security. A public health extension, IMDSS-H, was awarded to ElanTech in 2010. The IMDSS-H contract was a joint award with Murray State University to advance emergency response and disaster prevention efforts specifically to support public health incidents. Program partners include CEPAR, the National Center for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response (PACER), and the University of Louisville.
About ElanTech, Inc. ElanTech is a government prime contractor specializing in software engineering and development of geointelligence solutions for commercial and government clients.
For more information, contact: Swati Allen ElanTech Inc. Phone: 301.486.0600 Email: contact@elantech-inc.com