Aerial photographs, weather observations and even food delivery are a few of the uses for drones, but what about getting emergency medical equipment to rural areas when it’s needed, quickly? A public-private partnership in southcentral Pennsylvania is aiming to use drones to do just that.
“The drone takes off and it goes somewhere and it lowers the package on a winch and drops it on your lawn," said John Eberhardt, managing director of ATA Aviation, explaining the logistics of how it works. ATA Aviation is a Virginia-based technology company and a key partner in the project.
Drone814 — the name comes from the region’s area code — received $1.9 million in U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the first phase of testing in the Johnstown area. The funding came through a SMART grant — Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation — and the project could be one of the first of its kind in the country.
“The idea was, can we use drones and prove that an autonomous drone can get integrated with the 911 system and deliver aid in an automated way that complements and enhances the ambulance service," Eberhardt said.
So, imagine you’re with someone who has just had a drug overdose or a severe allergic reaction. You call 911. Before the ambulance even gets there, an aerial drone delivers a package with life-saving medicine and equipment. The person who called 911 can get the package and use the defibrillator or Narcan or EpiPen, with the 911 dispatcher talking them through the process if needed.
Eberhardt said whether it’s a heart attack or a drug overdose, the faster you deliver aid, the more likely someone is to survive.
“The longer it goes, the longer you don't administer aid, your survival is dropping by the minute," he said. "So, yeah, minutes matter.”
That could make it especially helpful in rural areas that take longer to reach.
The first phase included about 60 test flights in the Johnstown area. The drone beat the ambulance about a third of the time and tied it about a third of the time. Eberhardt said they know what they need to do to shorten that response time in the next phase.
Matthew Bjorkman is the transportation program manager at the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission, the partner in the project that applied for the funding.
He said for stage two, they’ll take what they learned in Johnstown and scale it out to the whole six-county project area.
Along with Cambria, the counties in the project are Blair, Huntingdon, Fulton, Bedford and Somerset. They plan to apply for up to $15 million in federal funding for the next phase.
"We're really excited to get the opportunity to apply to round two, and hopefully get the award and continue the project and building it out across the region," Bjorkman said.
