The maximal expected coverage relocation problem for emergency vehicles

Abstract

In the Maximal Expected Coverage Relocation Problem the aim is to provide a dynamic relocation strategy for emergency vehicle waiting sites in such a way that the expected covered demand is maximized and the number of waiting site relocations is controlled. The problem can be formulated as an integer linear program. When the number of vehicles is relatively small this program can be solved within reasonable computing time. Simulations conducted with real-life emergency medical services data from the Montreal area confirm the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Keywords:

• location
• relocation
• emergency vehicles
• physician cars
• ambulances
• coverage models
• dynamic models

Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec under Grant 980861, by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Council under Grants OGP0038816, OGP0039682 and by the Région Nord-Pas de Calais, France. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to Émilie Frot and Geneviève Hernu for their help with programming and to Marko Blais from Urgences Santé who provided some data. We are also grateful to the referees for their valuable comments.