Care from the Air

What if you need blood, blankets, tourniquets or other key medical supplies at your 3 a.m. incident or MCI? Already occurring on the campus of WakeMed Hospital System in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the University of Maryland, it may soon be possible to have UPS station a few drones in your supply yard, activate them remotely by an incident commander or supervisor's cell phone, launched, and delivered instantly to latitude/longitude locations in minutes. Rather than have an employee wake up, dress and drive to your supply station, load urgently needed supplies or medications into an SUV and drive them to your location—a sequence that could take 90 minutes—forward-thinking services may soon be able to work with UPS or other affiliated agencies, to have specially pre-packaged cases (weighing less than 50 lbs) auto-launced and delivered by a $4,000 drone. REMSA (Reno Emergency Medical Services Authority) in Nevada has been approved by the FDA to soon start the auto-delivery of AEDs to remote areas by drones that will fly to specific geo locations—not be directly piloted. Read this article carefully and pay attention to this new UPS project and envision how to use this instant launch "package" delivery capability in your service area. Innovative systems not content to wait for UPS to get the FAA stamp of approval can start by placing a drone compartment on the roof of their Rescue Truck or Supervisor SUV, with the capability of launching a TETHERED/wired drone str...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Exclusive Articles Operations Equipment & Gear Source Type: news