PPE by parachute? Novant takes flight with drones to get Charlotte-area doctors supplies
Novant Health will soon be distributing critical medical equipment like personal protective equipment to some local doctors by parachute.
The hospital system launched an emergency drone delivery program this week, working with drone delivery company Zipline.
Drones will drop off medical supplies in flight by parachute, and return to the Novant Health Logistics Center in Kannapolis, which will be the drone program’s fulfillment center.
The program, which will use six drones, demonstrated its first flight on Friday.
The drone program will start with delivering PPE during the coronavirus pandemic, but that’s just the first step. Novant’s use of drones could expand beyond emergency operations over the next two years, the hospital system said in a statement.
That could eventually include delivering equipment and prescriptions directly to patients’ homes, Novant chief digital and technology officer Angela Yochem told the Observer.
“That’s several years out, I’d imagine,” Yochem said. “But that’s the sort of thing that led us to initially look at drone-based (deliveries), because it could potentially allow us to provide a greater degree of access to care for our communities, than anyone else can do.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted Novant a waiver to begin the program, part of a N.C. Department of Transportation program to integrate drone use into national airspace.
The FAA has approved two routes for the initial launch of operations, beginning with flights from the emergency drone fulfillment center in Kannapolis to Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center.
The drones can carry up to four pounds of cargo at up to 80 miles per hour. Yochem said individual drones would be able to carry about 150 masks at a time, in terms of size.
Why drones?
As COVID-19 continues to spread, the drone deliveries will provide a contact-less distribution option, Novant says.
“We’re likely in for a long-term fight against COVID-19,” Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo said in a statement. “Using contact-less drone logistics will be an important tool in that effort.”
The drone delivery service also gives Novant the opportunity to provide personal protective equipment exactly where it’s needed, on-demand, Yochem said.
That would be key in the event of a COVID-19 surge, though Yochem said Novant expects to have “more than enough” PPE to provide care for Mecklenburg County patients.
“It’s easy to imagine how it would be much more advantageous to distribute the PPE exactly where it’s needed, on demand within a handful of minutes after it’s requested, as opposed to trying to figure that out in advance,” Yochem said.
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