With each minute that passes following the onset of symptoms, the chances of survival decrease by ten percent, meaning that help often arrives too late. Starting in 2018, drone maker Flirtey and U.S.-based ambulance service Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority (REMSA) aim to start a trend that could save thousands of lives, using drones to deliver automated external defibrillators (AED) to victims.
When REMSA's 911 center in Reno, Nevada, receives a cardiac arrest call, a Flirtey drone, carrying an AED, will soon be dispatched to the scene of the emergency. That means that AEDs can be deployed to the scene of the incident well in advance of the arrival of EMTs and ambulances, shaving precious minutes off response time.
“We have the ability to deliver lifesaving aid into the hands of people who need it,” said Flirtey CEO Matthew Sweeny. “Why aren’t we, as a society, doing it already? This is one of the most important uses of drone delivery technology, and we believe that by democratizing access to this lifesaving aid, our technology will save more than a million lives over the decades to come.”
