Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority and the drone delivery service Flirtey plan to launch the first emergency drone delivery program in the U.S.

“This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to improve the health of the communities we serve through an innovative use of drone technology,” Dean Dow, president and CEO of REMSA, which serves the northern Nevada region, told HCB News.

When REMSA’s 911 communications center receives a cardiac arrest call, a drone equipped with an external automatic defibrillator will be dispatched to the scene, as well as an ambulance.

There were 359,400 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in 2013 and the overall survivor rate was only 9.5 percent, according to the American Heart Institute. For every minute that the patient waits to receive defibrillation, their odds of survival decrease by about 10 percent.

A study published in JAMA in June found that drone-based defibrillators can get to patients 16 minutes faster than speeding ambulances. That can drastically increase survival for cardiac arrest patients.

REMSA and Flirtey are working together to develop an emergency response and 911 integration process. It will combine Flirtey’s flight planning software and REMSA’s highly-specialized patient care and transport programs.

In addition to its ground ambulance system, REMSA also operates an airplane and helicopter air ambulance service called Care Flight, a critical care ambulance, a 911 dispatch communications center, a tactical emergency medical support team, and community and special events EMS teams.

Through the partnership, the companies are also working on FAA approvals and a public education campaign focused on integrating emergency drone AED delivery into the community.

“We feel that the technology and safety record of both organizations and our shared mission to improve patient outcomes aligned well and will provide us an opportunity to continue to embrace new technology and provide high quality patient care at the same time,” said Dow.

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