The first Transnational Project Meeting was held in Eskişehir in the project called "Let's Hold onto Life Together", carried out under the coordination of Eskişehir AFAD within the scope of the European Union Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Projects Program.
The project prepared and applied by Eskişehir AFAD in the 2020 project application period was entitled to receive a grant from the Turkish National Agency. The project is carried out in partnership with Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Association for Combating SMA Disease and organizations from Spain, France and Latvia. In the project, which started its activities at the beginning of 2021, the online work due to the pandemic conditions continued with face-to-face meetings in Eskişehir with the participation of the project partners on October 26-27-28, 2021.
In the meetings, information was given by Eskişehir AFAD about the general activities of the project, responsibilities and works to be carried out within the scope of the project outputs, as well as disasters and emergencies. While informative presentations were made by Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine about patients who are dependent on medical devices and the devices they use, the University's Distance Education Center also gave information about the technical infrastructure to be created. An informative presentation about the situation of these individuals and the needs their families may need in disaster and emergency situations was made by the Association for Combating SMA Disease. Organizations from other countries that are partners in the project presented their experiences and application examples to the meeting participants.
The project is about the issues that should be applied in disaster and emergency situations for individuals who have SMA Type-1 disease or who have to continue their lives due to respiratory devices and other vital devices for other reasons. In this context, with the project;
1. Measures to be taken against disaster and emergency risks in the living spaces of individuals living connected to medical devices,
2. Shelter requirements to be needed in temporary shelter areas or facilities created after disasters and emergencies,
3. Intervention and evacuation methods of the first responders working in disasters and emergencies will be studied for these individuals and the medical devices they use.
4. Educational videos, animations and e-books that will be produced as project outputs as a result of these studies will be made available to families and first responders via the Distance Education Portal.
The project activities, which are planned to be completed by the end of 2022, will continue with one-week face-to-face meetings and online working meetings to be held in each partner country.
