Impacts of global climate changes in the form of repeated natural disasters are becoming a part of the day-to-day life of the present-day society. The issue of preparedness for extraordinary and crisis situations is becoming more and more topical. The Czech Republic is no exception; it regularly faces heavy rains, floods or snow. The key prerequisite for successful management of these emergencies is an effective prevention and preparedness in the form of crisis plans or crisis preparedness plans. The objective of my thesis is to find out whether Emergency Medical Service of Zlín Region is sufficiently prepared for the occurrence of emergencies and to propose solutions if shortcomings are identified. The Emergency Medical Service of Zlín Region constitutes a basic component part of the Integrated Rescue System of Zlín Region. As a provider of emergency medical services, it is included in the Crisis Plan of Zlín Region. Capacity for action and the activities of the Emergency Medical Service of Zlín Region have to be ensured not only in day-to-day operation, but also if an emergency occurs and continues. The theoretical part of my thesis provides a general overview of emergency and crisis planning, competencies of administrative authorities with respect to emergency medical services in case of an emergency situation announcement, traumatology plan and pandemic plan. This chapter includes also characterization of the legal entity of Emergency Medical Service of Zlín Region and description of special antropogenic and natural threats. The theoretical part is followed by qualitative research, which involves in particular a detailed study of available professional resources in printed and electronic form, especially crisis and emergency planning documents of Zlín Region and internal documents of Emergency Medical Service of Zlín Region. The practical part of the thesis contains an analysis of external and internal threats at respective ambulance stations of Emergency Medical Service of Zlín Region. The external risks analysis is based on the Crisis Plan of Zlín Region and Emergency Plan of Zlín Region, while the internal risks analysis is based on an expert estimate of potential risks at respective ambulance stations of EMS ZR. I assigned the potential impact on the activity of EMS ZK to each identified risk in the risk analysis. The outputs from the analysis became the main source for the preparation of the crisis preparedness plan. The analysis of external risks confirmed that agility and EMS ZK activities may disrupt in particular the following threats: natural flood (ambulance station in Zlín Peroutkovo nábřeží, Uherské Hradiště, Vsetín), special flood (ambulance station in Zlín - Peroutkovo nábřeží, Karolinka, Vsetín), risks arising from climatic conditions (especially heavy snow in Wallachia), disruption of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies (secondary consequence of the crisis) and electricity cuts (especially ambulance stations that do not dispose of emergency power unit). The thesis result is a proposal of Crisis Preparedness Plan of Medical Emergency Service of Zlín Region. A legal entity or an individual who secures the performance of measures resulting from the regional crisis plan is responsible for the preparation of the crisis preparedness plan. The particulars and manner of preparation of the crisis preparedness plan are described in detail in the Government Decree No. 462/2000 Coll., which implements the provisions of Sec. 27(8) and Sec. 28(5) of Act No. 240/2000 Coll., on Emergency Management and Amendment to Some Acts. When drafting the plan I proceeded according to valid legislation. This plan is an internal document of the legal entity to solve the challenges of security in crisis situations.

The mental health concerns in Sweden have been increasing since the beginning of the 2000’s, where Skåne County in the southern parts of Sweden has shown to be slightly higher in a proportion of reported cases in comparison to other regions. To address the growing need for psychiatric healthcare, the health services of the region of Skåne (Region Skåne) have introduced a psychiatric ambulance unit as a part of first responders. The Prehospital Acute Psychiatry (PAP) ambulance is manned by health care professionals trained in mental health issues. The goal of Region Skåne is to reach 90% of the population within 20 minutes and 99% of the population within 35 minutes. This case study aims to provide valuable and useful information to the decision-makers in Region Skåne when placing additional PAP ambulance units. A PAP ambulance placed in an ambulance station uses an optimisation model previously created and is based on data and travel time analysis. The data analysis consists of K-Means clustering and Linear regression, to find similarities in the data as well as trends in the number of cases. The travel time analysis and the area and population coverage is based on 20, 35, and 60 minutes travel time from a station. The travel time is dependent on the road conditions as well as population density when considering ambulance stations for additional PAP ambulances. Malmö, Helsingborg, and Kristianstad/Hässleholm PAP stations are shown to be optimal choices, due to favourable road conditions and densely populated regions. Ambulances placed in these stations can cover much ground while also being able to attend to a major portion of the population. The data analysis also shows that it is beneficial to place ambulances in these stations, due to an increasing trend of mental illness cases in these areas symbolising a medium to a high number of cases in relation to the rest of Skåne.