Saving Lives the World Over
When one thinks of drones, two images generally come to mind. The first is a military drone, flying high above an enemy target snapping pictures. The second is a personal drone that people own and fly around their property typically for recreational purposes. But the world of drones has rapidly expanded since the military started using them and they became available for consumer use. One of the largest advances in drone technology is the ability to transport something from one point to another while staying in one location. This is the type of drone that companies like Amazon.com are testing for package delivery, but the technology goes far beyond the delivery of packages.
A big advantage of drones is their ability to fly just about anywhere, something that a wheeled vehicle is incapable of doing. Also, as opposed to traditional aircraft, drones may be operated from a remote location, allowing the operator to maintain contact with the craft without leaving a base camp. This combination of factors makes drones ideal for things like flying in medical treatments to remote locations, especially following natural or man-made disasters or accidents, such as an automobile accident.
Within minutes of a disaster or accident, a drone may dispatched to the scene, bringing with it lifesaving medical equipment and supplies that otherwise could take minutes, hours, or even days to reach the site. In the event of an auto accident, a drone dispatched to the site by EMS could arrive before an ambulance and allow other first responders to provide lifesaving medical treatment. These “air ambulances” are able to get to the scene of the accident before a traditional ambulance, and could mean the difference between life and death for those involved.
For remote locations, such as the earthquakes in Nepal, medical drones are able to fly in medical supplies to volunteers. With roads difficult to traverse, the air was the best way to get these supplies to the volunteers, and they were able to take advantage of this quick first response provided by the drones flown in from safe and remote locations. Having the ability to fly into an unforgiving location means that medical drones are invaluable when it comes to quickly responding to a medical emergency in remote locations.
The ability of drones to carry much-needed medical supplies anywhere in the world – anywhere they are needed – makes them invaluable resources for first response medical teams and volunteers responding to disasters or accidents. As drone technology improves, they will become more valuable to saving people’s lives and providing much needed medical care anywhere in the world.
Drones have a storied history, but part of that history that is still being written involves helping save people’s lives through the flying in of key medical equipment to anywhere in the world regardless of the situation. Anywhere that has open access to the air, a medical drone can fly in and provide life to those that have been injured by natural disasters or accidents.
As more and more organizations adopt drones and the regulations regarding their use are finalized, they will continue to play a key role in medical situations. Medical drones are relatively new, but they have a bright future ahead of them as they continue to demonstrate their capability when it comes to providing volunteers and medical personnel with the required medical equipment to save lives the world over or down the street.
