These drones are dropping blood, not bombs.
A Florida hospital is planning to deploy first-in-the-nation drones to transport life-saving blood to trauma victims — shifting the “golden hour” from the ER to the scene of the emergency.
Tampa General Hospital announced the launch of a drone delivery program Monday to bring whole blood directly to the scene of catastrophic injuries across a 70-square-mile area in Hillsborough County.
The goal is to cut blood transport times down to under 3 minutes — and offer hemorrhaging patients a better chance at survival, the hospital said in a statement.
When a 911 call involves a patient experiencing trauma such as severe blood loss, dispatchers will direct emergency responders to the scene, who can simultaneously deploy the drones armed with life-saving blood.
If necessary, first responders can start begin blood transfusions directly at the scene.
The emergency drone logistics systems and services have been provided by Archer First Response Systems and will be operated by Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
“The golden hour of trauma care has always started at the hospital door until now,” Michele Moran, senior vice president for emergency services at Tampa General, said in a statement.
“This program puts whole blood directly into the hands of first responders before a patient ever reaches us, moving that critical window to the scene of the emergency itself.”
It will be implemented at two Hillsborough County Fire Rescue stations — Station 9 in the Faulkenburg and Sabal Park area and Station 37 in Riverview — which see the most patients with traumatic blood loss injuries.
“Our crews are often first at the scene of an accident,” Chief Todd Carnell, rescue division chief of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, said in a statement.
“This program puts an essential, lifesaving resource directly in our hands at the scene, giving our first responders more tools to improve the chances of survival of a patient in crisis.”
The cutting-edge tech is scheduled to come online in October, subject to county commission approval.
The drone program was developed in partnership with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine, the Florida Center for Emergency Medical Services, OneBlood and Archer First Response System.
It is a game changer for our first responders and, more importantly, for the families we serve,” Carnell added.
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