From First Aid to Care: A Resilient Community Starts with People Who Know How to Help

When every minute counts, help must begin even before emergency responders arrive 

In the event of a sudden collapse, it’s not enough to rely solely on emergency medical services. Someone must recognize the situation, call for help, and, above all, take action. It’s often those first few minutes that determine whether a person will have a chance to return to their normal life.

The problem, however, isn’t necessarily a reluctance to help. People are often afraid of making a mistake, unsure of the correct procedure, or unable to recall what they learned in previous training during a crisis. Moreover, a one-time course usually doesn’t reach a large enough portion of the population.

The solution is systematic education across the entire community—in schools, businesses, and among the general public. The #mocPOmoc initiative therefore combines the expertise of the Czech Red Cross with virtual reality training. Participants find themselves in a realistic emergency; a virtual assistant guides them through each step, and a mannequin equipped with sensors immediately evaluates the CPR being performed. The training thus offers a hands-on experience while taking place in a safe environment where it’s possible to make mistakes and learn from them.

A major advantage of this approach is its scalability and the ability to train a large number of people. From June 2025 to June 2026, approximately 90,000 people completed the VR training, and in 2026, the program expanded to 250 elementary and secondary schools. However, technology is not the goal here. It serves as a tool that makes first aid a common, practically honed skill and gradually builds a community network of people who are not afraid to step in when the moment is critical. 

Help shouldn’t come only when a crisis strikes  

A similar principle applies to support for seniors, people with disabilities, and their families. Many want to stay at home as long as possible, but residential care facilities have limited capacity, and direct-care workers are facing an ever-increasing workload.  

The key question, therefore, is not only what to do when an acute problem arises, but also how to recognize in time that a person is beginning to lose their independence or no longer feels safe at home. At such a time, it is not enough for the family, social services, the municipal police, or the local government to operate in isolation. A system must be established in which the various stakeholders know their roles, whom to pass information to, and who is capable of responding to a specific situation.

Examples from Hlučín and Šebetov Social Services illustrate what such cooperation might look like  

In Hlučín, seniors living at home are assisted by a system of motion sensors that detect unusual situations, such as prolonged inactivity. The system is operated by eHeleper and managed by the Hlučín Municipal Police. In the event of an unusual situation, the police automatically notify the family. If family members are unable to respond, the municipal police verify the situation on-site and, if necessary, call the emergency medical services. The technology thus complements the existing emergency hotline and extends the time seniors can safely remain at home. The city has not only acquired the technology but has also established a service with clearly defined roles for family members, police officers, and medical personnel. 

At Social Services in the Blanensko region of the South Moravian Region, a similar principle is used directly in residential care. Sensors and telemedicine devices help monitor clients’ health and mobility. Nurses can share the measured data with a doctor remotely, obtain recommendations on how to proceed, and respond more quickly to a deterioration in a client’s condition. If the system detects an abnormal situation, it alerts the staff, who immediately check on the client. The solution is integrated with standard documentation and has become part of daily operations. 

Both examples confirm that the greatest innovation is not the sensor, the app, or the data network itself. What matters most is the ability of the municipality, families, social services, the city police, and healthcare professionals to share information promptly and to know who should take action at any given moment.  

The municipality doesn’t have to provide everything. However, it can connect the entire system. 

The municipality can create the conditions for the individual parts of the system to work together. This means understanding residents’ needs, mapping available services, connecting local organizations, and collaboratively determining how assistance will work in practice. 

The best approach may not be to purchase a large-scale technological solution immediately. In many cases, technology can be borrowed, tested, and then deployed. It is advisable to start with a smaller pilot project, involve future users and service staff, test the solution in a real-world environment, and only then decide on its expansion based on the results. It is also important to address financing, operations, and the responsibilities of individual partners from the outset. 

It was precisely this perspective that united the presentations by experts, local governments, and service providers during the panel discussion at the URBIS trade fair. However, the most important conclusion was not the presentation of specific devices. Rather, it was the reminder that a municipality’s resilience is not built on a single technology, but on a system where people know how to help and services communicate with one another. Support arrives at the right time, ideally, even before a routine problem turns into a crisis. 

Are you interested in designing or implementing assistive technologies in your municipality? We can help you assess your needs and recommend suitable solutions. 

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