A nationally innovative program to use drones to deliver emergency medical supplies in Cambria County should be ready to take flight in July.
County officials have begun making public presentations about the program, coordinated by the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission. Local first responders will begin receiving training next month, followed by test flights in July and responses to actual emergencies in August.
When emergency dispatchers receive calls for time-critical situations such as a heart attack, drug overdose, allergic reaction or excessive bleeding, they will first dispatch an ambulance. Then they will deploy a drone with supplies such as an automatic external defibrillator, Narcan, EpiPen or tourniquet to deliver potentially life-saving items before EMTs can arrive.
Dispatchers will stay in touch with others with the patient to walk them through using the materials they receive until professionals arrive, which in some rural areas can be 15 to 20 minutes.
The concept began through efforts by Aerium, a Cambria County not-for-profit organization that pushes training for jobs in aviation. That group and its partners were awarded a $1.92 million grant last year through a U.S. Department of Transportation program to encourage innovative use of technology.
Now, it is on the brink of being a national leader in using drones for medical intervention.
“If we’re not first, we’ll be one of the first two in the country that are doing this,” said John Eberhardt, managing director of system consultant ATA Aviation of Fredericksburg, Virginia. A similar program is under development in Florida, but the Cambria County operation is believed to be closer to beginning operation.
ATA has been working with Aerium and other partners on the specifications for the drones, dispatch protocols for emergency dispatchers, flight clearances from the Federal Aviation Administration, and types and locations of sensors to control the drones and make sure they don’t enter the flight path of other airborne vehicles.
The company made a presentation about the program to Johnstown Council earlier this month. It will hold open houses May 13-14 at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and present information at its own conference May 28-29 at the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.
Eberhardt said crews will begin installing 30 specialized sensors in late May and finish before the first extensive flights in July. There will be demonstration flights May 30 followed by test flights June 2.
The weeklong tests in July and August will be critical for determining whether the drones work the way they should, whether bystanders are willing to use supplies that are delivered before an ambulance arrives, and whether that improves the medical outcomes of patients, Eberhardt said. If it is positive, that information will be used to apply for a second stage of funding that could be as much as $10 million to expand the program across Cambria and seven other counties over as long as three years.
“From a technical perspective, we’re pretty confident it’s going to work,” Eberhardt said. “But if the [health] system isn’t going to benefit from it, it’s hard to justify the money.”
Initially, officials want to set up the system over a wide area. Then, the goal is to show its medical value to insurance companies to convince them to cover the cost of drone system.
The biggest benefit from drone deliveries is expected to be rural areas with no nearby ambulance service, but the initial testing will be done in Westmont, Southmont and Johnstown, Eberhardt said. That’s because officials want to get as many deployments as possible for demonstration purposes, and they expect three to five a day in those areas, compared to that many a week in rural locations.
Demonstrations will take place from July 14-25 in Westmont and Southmont, followed by actual deployments Aug. 11-22 in Johnstown. Drones will be deployed from two locations, but they won’t be identified because officials don’t want anyone to gather at the sites.
The drones will be provided by DroneUp, a Virginia Beach, Virginia, company that specializes in deliveries. The company will provide the drones, pilots, mechanics and people to place medical equipment in the delivery pack, but eventually those jobs should be filled locally.
Eberhardt stressed that during the testing phase, crews will not be gathering any personal information about patients or their medical emergency.
If the system is approved for the second stage of funding, it likely will expand across Cambria County, then to Indiana and Westmoreland counties, followed by Somerset, Blair, Huntingdon, Bedford and Fulton in no set order.
Tom Davis, emergency management coordinator for Cambria County, said the program will provide “a little” more work for his stretched staff, but it shouldn’t be a problem. The crew already stays on phone calls to help others care for a patient until an ambulance arrives, so walking them through using equipment delivered by drone shouldn’t be a problem, he said.
“I think the potential to provide this life-saving service to patients is amazing,” he said. “I’m excited about being part of something as aggressive as this.
“That’s how I told our staff: In little Cambria County, we’re going to be the leaders in something that’s never been done before. They said, ‘Bring it.’ They want to be involved.”
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.