Summarised by Centrist
Drones are set to revolutionise emergency response times. They have proven to be faster than ambulances in arriving on the scene two-thirds of the time according to a Swedish study.
Programs like the one in Clemmons, North Carolina, are deploying drones to deliver automated external defibrillators (AEDs) ahead of ambulances.
Daniel Crews, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office in Forsyth County, where Clemmons is located, said: “The ultimate goal is to save lives and improve life expectancy for someone experiencing a cardiac episode.”
Besides cardiac emergencies, drones are being tested for delivering naloxone for drug overdoses, providing aid in trauma situations, and even drowning rescues.
Drones have been previously used to locate people who have wandered away from nursing homes and pinpoint the location of a burning car so the driver could be pulled out by police.
Gordon Folkes, the founder and chief executive of AFRS, a company that develops and deploys emergency drone logistics systems, said “The bread and butter for these systems is suburban areas” where they are able to avoid traffic congestion.
However, Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union cautioned: “The concern is that the FAA is going to significantly loosen the reins of drones without any significant privacy protections.”
