United States: Drones are now being used to quickly deliver medical help during emergencies. These small flying machines carry medical supplies like first aid kits and defibrillators to places that are hard to reach by road.
Life-Saving Impact in North Carolina
Recently, in North Carolina, drones were used to help during a cardiac arrest. They delivered life-saving equipment much faster than normal ambulances could and if someone calls 911 to report a cardiac arrest the first responder on the scene may be a drone carrying a n automated External defibrillator or AED.
Strategic Partnerships for Improved Response
As reported in CBS news, “The idea is for the drone to get there several minutes before first responders,” such as an emergency medical technician or an ambulance, said Daniel Crews, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office in Forsyth County, where Clemmons is located.
The sheriff’s office is partnering on the project with local emergency services, the Clinical Research Institute at Duke University, and the drone consulting firm Hovecon. “The ultimate and definite goal is to save lives and improve life expectancy for someone experiencing a cardiac episode,” Crews said.
Addressing Critical Need
It’s almost more than 356,000 people have to face a heart attack outside of a hospital setting every year in the United States according to the American Heart association and most people are at the home when it happens and about 90 percent die because they didn’t get the help on time. Every minute that has been passed without medical intervention lower down the odds of survival by 10 percent.
And the particular study found that an emergency medical services unit takes an average of seven minutes to arrive on the scene following a 911 call, though the response time varies considerably by region.
Concerns Over Privacy and Safety
Some of the civil liberties groups are concerned that the FAA’s new rules may not provide enough protection from the drone cameras for the people on the ground.
Jay Stanley who is a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union acknowledged the benefits of using the drones in emergencies, and this will lead to decrease in amount of the death caused by the delayed treatment in cardiac arrest.