Statements of JUH EU MODEX participants

For worldwide missions as a team player

The series of exercises within the EU MODEX are therefore enormously valuable to develop together and to use these skills in Europe and worldwide.

Jörg Lüssem, Member of the Executive Board of Directors of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe.

MedicalGermany

Since 2015, Johanniter and its consortium partners have been leading EU MODEX for medical & USAR modules of the European Union Civil Protection. During the civil protection exercises, European civil protection modules train together to help quickly and effectively in the event of a major disaster. Volunteer emergency responders and Johanniter specialists regularly take part in these exercises. The experience gained in these exercises pays off in real operations around the world.

October 2017 was a milestone for Johanniter. The second exercise cycle of EU MODEX, led by Johanniter, had just started in Liverpool. At the same time, Johanniter’s own EMT 1 participated as an emergency medical team. Only shortly before, the module had been classified as an Emergency Medical Team by the World Health Organisation. Liverpool was thus the first international exercise under new conditions.

For me, EU MODEX was a great experience at the time. Although you only knew some team members from previous missions and exercises, it was still a feeling of family again within a noticeably short time,

remembers the physician Dr. med. Cornelia Lindlohr-Saad. She has already been on several real emergency aid missions. During the 48-hour exercise in the middle of Liverpool, Johanniter worked hand in hand with search and rescue modules from France and Iceland and the Italian TAST. An earthquake scenario was trained.

The aim of an EU MODEX is to practice Interoperability, self-sufficiency, cooperation and coordination of operations. "Team cohesion and interdisciplinary assistance is an enormously important factor," emphasises Philipp Lautner, who was also present in Liverpool in his capacity as an emergency paramedic.

The EU MODEX and later real missions like the one after Cyclone Idai in Mozambique showed me that the team constellation is enormously important.

The team concept and mutual support in major disasters are a foundation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, which was launched in 2001 and has facilitated EU MODEX since 2010. It includes civil protection authorities and organisations from 33 European states. They make their modules available and can be deployed worldwide if needed.

"Especially now in the Corona pandemic, it becomes clear how quickly disaster scenarios and challenges to relief organisations can change," says Jörg Lüssem, Member of the Executive Board of Directors of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe.

The series of exercises within the EU MODEX are therefore enormously valuable to develop together and to use these skills in Europe and worldwide. We therefore congratulate very warmly on the 10th anniversary and look forward to hopefully more successful exercises in the years to come.