Drone delivers defibrillator, saves life
The drone delivery system in Region Västra Götaland is developed and operated by Everdrone.
Everdrone's Emergency Medical Aerial Delivery service (EMADE), an innovative link in the chain of life-saving measures of Region Västra Götaland, Sweden, played a crucial part in saving a life during a sudden cardiac arrest.
An Everdrone autonomous drone delivered a defibrillator that helped save the life of a 71-year-old man. "This is a truly revolutionary technology that needs to be implemented all over," says the patient who now has made a full recovery.
EMADE was put to the toughest of tests in the morning of December 9, 2021. "In the Swedish city of Trollhättan, a 71-year-old man was shoveling snow in his driveway when he suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Thanks to the combination of an immediate emergency call, the quick actions of Dr. Mustafa Ali and the swift delivery of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), lifesaving measures through defibrillation could be initiated before the arrival of the ambulance, and his life was saved. The time from the alarm until the AED was safely delivered at the doorstep of the incident address was just over three minutes. After the initial treatment on site, the patient was rushed to the hospital and is today fully recovered."
The patient added: "I can't put into words how thankful I am to this new technology and the speedy delivery of the defibrillator. If it wasn't for the drone I probably wouldn't be here."
For Dr. Ali, the experience was just as gratifying despite the gravity of the situation. "I was on my way to work at the local hospital when I looked out the car window and saw a man collapsed in his driveway. I immediately understood that something was wrong and rushed to help. The man had no pulse, so I started doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) while asking another bystander to call 112 (the Swedish emergency number). Just minutes later, I saw something flying above my head. It was a drone with a defibrillator!"
Thanks to Dr. Ali, and the use of the defibrillator, life-saving treatment was initiated early and, which in the end, meant that the life of the patient was saved.
(The drone carries an ultralight Schiller FRED easyport defibrillator.)
"This is an excellent real-world example of how Everdrone's cutting-edge drone technology, fully integrated with emergency dispatch, can minimize the time for access to life-saving AED equipment," says Mats Sällström, CEO, Everdrone.
The drone delivery system in Region Västra Götaland is developed and operated by Everdrone, a world-leading company in autonomous drone solutions. The solution has been developed and is continuously improved in close collaboration with the Center for Resuscitation Science at Karolinska Institutet, SOS Alarm and RThe drone carries an ultralight Schiller FRED easyport defibrillator.egion Västra Götaland. The operations are also supported by Vinnova, Swelife and Medtech4Health.