In an emergency in the Swedish town of Trollhättan, a drone from startup Everdrone helped save the life of a 71-year-old by quickly delivering a defibrillator. According to Everdrone, the snowman shoveled into his driveway on the morning of December 9 last year when he collapsed from cardiac arrest. A doctor on his way to work noticed this and took care of the man with resuscitation measures. Someone else made an emergency call and then the control center alerted the drone service. Three minutes later, the drone delivered a pacemaker, which the doctor immediately used.
The man was taken to the hospital by an ambulance, which then arrived and fully recovered. It says in the message from Everdrone. Savior Dr. Mustafa Ali is an emergency doctor by profession, a successful mission To the Swedish public broadcaster Sverigesradio.
Everdrone has been running a defibrillator drone delivery service in the Swedish province of Västra Götaland along with authorities, state emergency operator SOS Alarm and Karolinska Institutet of Medicine in Västra Götaland, Sweden, since last year. This was preceded by a study with a four-month testing phase. In 12 of the 53 real alarm cases, drones were in the air during tests – and in seven cases faster than the ambulance at the scene. However, airborne defibrillators were not used at this point. Everdrone is currently with the Emergency Drone Service in five locations and can therefore reach 200,000 people in Västra Götaland.
So far, little chance of cardiac arrest
The chance of survival for people who have had cardiac arrest outside the hospital is about 11 percent, The study says on the drone system. An ambulance in Sweden currently takes an average of 11 minutes to reach its destination – the chance of survival drops dramatically with each minute. CPR as soon as possible and the use of a defibrillator increases the patient’s chances. Here, drones can help with faster delivery.
This is the first time in the history of medicine that a self-driving drone has helped save a heart patient, according to Everdron. According to Chairman Mats Saleström, there is still a lot to improve in order for Everdrone to fit well into the lifesaving series. “We are currently working extensively on how the emergency call center can assist the caller and ensure that the already connected defibrillator is used,” Tell the Swedish technology magazine Nyteknik.
According to a Nyteknik report, drones can currently fly a maximum of six kilometers in one direction, at speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour. Night flights are now possible, but bad weather is still a major hurdle.
(Axe)