New Tampa General Hospital drone program will deliver emergency equipment to 911 callers
BRADENTON, Fla. - Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has introduced a first-of-its-kind drone program to deliver life-saving emergency response equipment to 911 callers. In collaboration with Manatee County and Archer First Response Systems (ArcherFRS), the program will aim to accelerate response time for health-related emergencies.
Each drone is loaded with an AED for cardiac arrests, NARCAN for an overdose and a tourniquet for trauma.
"Through the use of technology and innovation, Tampa General Hospital is transforming health care," said John Couris, president and CEO of TGH. "The first-in-the-nation program can effectively save lives by responding to health-related emergencies faster than ever before."
Starting May 1, when someone in the coverage area – which spans a 3.5-mile radius -- calls 911 with reports of cardiac arrest, opioid overdose, or trauma, the Manatee County ECC Dispatch will send a drone.
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The equipment will then reach the caller between 1 minute 45 seconds and 2 minutes 10 seconds. Dispatch will walk the caller through the equipment application, as traditional response vehicles are on their way.
"This is an amazing opportunity to be on the cutting edge of technology in emergency response," said Manatee County Board of County Commissioners Chair Mike Rahn. "We are excited that this first-of-its-kind program is taking flight first here in Manatee County."
Gordon Folkes with Archer FRS said drones don’t face the same challenges as first responders do trying to get to an emergency.
"The rural areas where there's time delays are caused by distance, but it's also very impactful for the concentrated and suburban areas due to the delay because of traffic," said Folkes.
Here’s how it will work: a wife calls 911, her husband is in cardiac arrest. The 911 operator simply presses a button on their screen to launch the drone, which gets delivered to the couple’s driveway in less than two minutes. The operator stays on the phone and gives the wife instructions to use the AED.
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Paramedics will also be en route to that emergency, but improving response times can improve outcomes, when every second counts.
"With cardiac arrest, it impacts more than 350,000 people nationwide every year, and 90% of those events are fatal. And lead time to defibrillate the heart in a cardiac arrest situation is directly correlated with clinical outcomes. So the quicker you can lead someone's heart and get it back into a regular rhythm, the more likely they are to survive and have good brain function after survival," said Folkes.
The drone used for these emergency deliveries, a Freefly Systems AltaX, will serve a 3.5-square-mile area of coverage from the Manatee County EMS Lakewood Ranch Station on Malachite Drive from Monday to Friday during daylight hours.
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The goal is to expand the coverage area to 35 square miles and 24/7 coverage, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Over the next 12 months, the three organizations will also evaluate the performance of these drones in Manatee County to see if the technology can serve other residents across Florida.
Public notices will be mailed this week to area residents informing them of the drone delivery system.
