In the United States alone, about 1.5 million people suffer a heart attack each year, around 800,000 of those resulting in death.  Many of these attacks happen to people under the age of 65.  Sadly, when someone has a heart attack it often comes out of the blue.  The best way to prevent heart failure is to see your physician regularly and take good care of yourself.  But when an attack strikes, every second of care is critical.  For many patients who go into cardiac arrest, it is the fact that they aren’t able to receive the emergency care to restart their heart quickly enough that results in loss of life.

In the US, the average ambulance response time is 10-12 minutes.  The survival rate of a patient in cardiac arrest drops to 8% if an automatic external defibrillator (AED) is not used within the first 5 minutes.  Luckily AEDs can be found in many places like houses of worship, schools, and government buildings.  But, there is still a huge gap as to where an AED may be found in relation to where a victim may be.  A graduate student form one of the top 20 technological schools in the world, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, has come up with a life saving solution.

TU Delft student Alec Momont has designed a drone that he calls the Ambulance Drone.  In a press release about his life saving drone Momont said, “It is essential that the right medical care is provided within the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest.  If we can get to an emergency scene faster we can save many lives and facilitate the recovery of many patients. This especially applies to emergencies such as heart failure, drownings, traumas and respiratory problems, and it has become possible because life-saving technologies, such as a defibrillator, can now be designed small enough to be transported by a drone.” 

The drones, which are essentially flying emergency first aid boxes, can be located strategically throughout a city.  When an emergency call is placed the drone can be dispatched instantly, reaching the victim in about a minute.  When compared to the average time it takes for an ambulance to reach an emergency situation, those saved minutes can mean a saved life.  Inside the drone’s tool box is all the supplies needed for someone who is not a trained emergency care giver to treat a victim.  This includes AEDs, oxygen masks, insulin, wound treatments, and other emergency medical supplies.

The drone uses GPS to locate the address given by those on the scene of the emergency.  A pilot then remotely flies the drone to the location.  Once there, the drone also has a camera and two way speaker allowing the individual treating the victim to communicate with a trained professional until an ambulance arrives on the scene.  According to Momont, “Currently, only 20% of untrained people are able to successfully apply a defibrillator.  This rate can be increased to 90% if people are provided with instructions at the scene. Moreover, the presence of the emergency operator via the drone’s loudspeaker helps to reduce the panic of the situation.”

The Drone Ambulance is in no way a tool to replace paramedics in an ambulance.  It is simply a tool that can give a paramedic a better chance to save a life once they are able to reach a victim.  Each Ambulance Drone costs around $19,000 while purchasing an ambulance can cost more than $200,000.  Each need to be stocked with the appropriate equipment and need to be operated by a trained professional.  When paramedics can use a tool like the Ambulance Drone, their patients can be given a chance to go home to their loved ones.  Momont hopes to see his Ambulance Drone doing just that within the next 5 years.