The drone startup Flirtey is going to use drones in the United States (US) to transport defibrillators to people who have had heart attacks. The deployment of drones will enable Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) to get to patients faster, allowing them to be defibrillated earlier and increasing their chances of survival.
The project is being carried out by Flirtey in collaboration with the Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority (REMSA), which provides emergency medical care in 11 US states. Faster delivery of defibrillators to heart attack patients is of great importance; every minute of later defibrillation decreases the patient's chance of survival by 10%. Figures from the American Heart Association show that 350,000 Americans suffer a heart attack outside the hospital every year. In the Netherlands, an average of 15 people a day die of heart attacks, reports the Dutch Heart Foundation. 33,000 Dutch people end up in hospital with a heart attack every year.
Getting AEDs to patients faster
From now on, once a report of a heart attack comes in to REMSA's emergency room, not only an ambulance will be sent to the patient, but also a Flirtey drone with an AED. A drone is not affected by traffic congestion, among other things, and can fly in a straight line to its destination in most cases, allowing a drone to reach a patient faster than an ambulance. The drone company says it can deliver an AED to a patient within minutes of a report. Bystanders can use the AED to start defibrillating the patient in advance while they wait for an ambulance to arrive.
Flirtey and REMSA are currently working on integrating Flirtey's flight planning software into REMSA's control room. The project is yet to be approved by the US aviation authorities. The parties plan to launch a campaign to raise awareness among citizens about the use of the drones and help them use the delivered AEDs in practice.
Transporting blood and diagnostic samples
Flirtey is certainly not the only party deploying drones for medical purposes; several parties have recently announced such projects. Switzerland's Matternet, for instance, recently announced it will use autonomous drones to transport blood for blood transfusions and diagnostic samples between Swiss hospitals.
The company is using the Matternet M2, a drone that can transport a load of up to 2 kilograms or 4 litres over a distance of 2 kilometres. The Matternet M2 lands on a Matternet Station, a station with an area of about 2m² that can be placed on the roof of a hospital, for example. Packages are automatically unloaded on this platform, after which any new packages that are ready are automatically loaded. In addition, at the Matternet Station, the drone's batteries are automatically replaced, so it can continue flying immediately with full batteries again.
Transporting medicine to Schiermonnikoog
Drones are also being used for medical purposes in the Netherlands. For example, ANWB Medical Air Assistence and UMCG Ambulance Care want to conduct trial flights with drones that can fly urgent medicines to Schiermonnikoog, among other places. A total of 30 test flights with three different drones are planned. If these trial flights are a success, the drones can also be used in other locations in the Netherlands.
The drones will take off on the mainland from a still unknown location and fly to the helicopter port on Schiermonnikoog. The pilot project has already been approved by the municipality of Schiermonnikoog, but still needs to be approved by the provinces concerned. The AD reports that the pilot project is expected to start in March 2018.
Ambulance drone for army
The Royal Netherlands Army is conducting experiments with an 'ambulance drone' called Drone4Emergency. This drone can transport a patient weighing up to 100 kilograms for an hour. This makes it possible to quickly transport patients from hard-to-reach places to a medical facility. The ambulance drone is an idea of Eelco Osse, who is involved in the drone's development through his company Osse Equipment Manufacturing Group.
Brigadier General Hans Damen, director of Materiel and Services of the Royal Netherlands Army, explained to Medical Contact that the drone can be used, among other things, to pick up patients lying in a minefield or a ravine. In addition, the ambulance drone could potentially be used as an alternative to long ambulance rides.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Flirtey (pictured)
Source: Matternet
Source: Municipality of Schiermonnikoog
Source: AD
Source: Medisch Contact
Source: Drone4Emergency
