This project aims to enhance and transform the resilience of older adults in our communities during disasters – this population group is often severely impacted during large events due to the lack of effective triage, comfort, and care. Through the use of a smart-space platform called CareDEX, this effort will enable the assimilation and exchange of customized care information rapidly between first responders, caregivers in senior housing facilities, and older adults in a secure manner.
Supervisor: Prof. Nalini Venkatasubramanian
References
2025
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RADAR: Resource Allocation for Disaster Resilience in Senior Health Care
Modeste Mefenya Kenne; Fernanda Ventorim; Chad Cossey; ZhengHui Hu; Julie Rousseau; Nalini Venkatasubramanian
Proceedings of the 33rd ACM International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (SIGSPATIAL 2025), 2025
During disasters, ensuring that critical response resources are efficiently allocated to the most appropriate locations is crucial for minimizing adverse impacts and saving lives. To this end, we present RADAR, a data-driven platform that integrates multisource GIS feeds (e.g. USGS earthquake alerts, Cal Fire wildfire perimeters) with facility and transportation data to support proactive planning and real-time recommendations that can be used by Emergency Operations Centers to guide populations to safety. RADAR uses policy-driven stable matching to optimize routing and resource assignment for evacuation planning and resource delivery. The aggregate model allocates populations in impacted facilities to alternate short-term facilities (e.g., hospitals), and a fine-grained extension for long-term senior-care facilities personalizes allocation using resident preferences, medical profiles, and social constraints. RADAR adapts as conditions evolve by utilizing historical data, live traffic, and changing facility status. We validated RADAR’s efficacy in several disaster settings, including real events such as the Palisades wildfire and tabletop drills (earthquake and water-contamination scenarios) involving first responders.