The future of health care really is up in the air.
And I mean that in a positive way, especially after talking with Sylvester Dazzo, vice president of administration for Northwestern Medicine, about the pilot program at Delnor Hospital in Geneva that is one of the first in the nation to rely on drones to transport blood and other lab specimens.
And “this is just the beginning,” insists Dazzo noting the potential these unmanned aerial systems have to improve turnaround times and patient care.
No one knows that more than Ryan Walsh, founder and CEO of Valqari, a Lombard-based drone company that is partnering with Northwestern Medicine to jump-start this high-flying era in Chicago-area health care.
The two groups met a couple of years ago at Northwestern Medicine’s Mansueto Innovation Institute, which focuses on cutting-edge solutions to health care issues.
There’s no doubt drones are, little by little, changing our lives in big ways. And it became apparent to both parties very quickly what kind of potential this has in health care, where cost and efficiency are so critical.
Traditionally, lab deliveries have been done through hired courier services or clinicians carrying the specimens across the Delnor campus on a set schedule, said Dazzo. For an on-demand delivery, staff would walk the items out of the building and across the street as many as 40 or more times per month.
For example, “If a patient comes into the cancer center feeling weak, we draw a few vials of blood and nurses would have to run these across the hospital, which takes up time and takes them away from the patient’s bedside,” he explained.
“Now we put the tube on a (drone) flight, it goes to the lab, where the blood is tested … if the cancer patient needs a unit or two of red cells … we would cross match the units of blood,” take what is required “out of the fridge and send it back to the cancer center for a same-day blood transfusion.”
It’s not hard to see how this significantly reduces wait times – and stress – for patients, not to mention the workload of nurses.
So far there have been 175 successful drone flights and 50 deliveries with a 100% success rate, noted Dazzo. And here’s where he and Walsh insist the sky really is the limit.
Current FAA guidelines require drones to operate within a line of sight, have a 20-foot radius of open space around them and remain on the Delnor campus. Drones also cannot operate within the city of Chicago or within five miles of an airport.
But that’s about to change, thanks to passage by Congress of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which enables drone operations beyond visual lines of sight.
What that does is dramatically open the opportunity to further the use of drove deliveries to other sites in the Northwestern Medicine Health Network, said Dazzo, who is particularly excited about the potential to improve services in its rural locations, such as Kishwaukee and Valley West hospitals, by providing a fast, efficient delivery option for such things as medical devices or supplies.
According to Dazzo, every morning before drone flights commence, Valqari’s team secures FAA approval to fly for the day. It’s important to note that no patient information is visible to the flight team at any point during the delivery process, and no cameras are used.
When ready for transport, hospital staff make an on-demand delivery request with Valqari’s app, notifying the flight team of an inbound package. The package is placed in a designated locker on the nearest Valqari DronePort and is then loaded onto an elevator that attaches the package to the drone.
The drones currently fly between Delnor Hospital’s south entrance and the cancer center across the street from two drone stations. Drones fly over the grass lawn and walkways, crossing the street and sidewalks when no people or cars are nearby.
An FAA-certified Part 107 pilot is within line of sight that can take over the controls at all times.
“We are grateful to be able to work towards our company mission, which is to use our technology to improve people’s lives,” Walsh said in a press release announcing this innovative test run.
Later, both he and Dazzo agreed this pilot program is but a “baby step” toward the potential drones have in reducing cost and improving health care. And they are confident that when the data is compiled in November, it will most certainly justify expanding the program.
“That’s when we will begin looking for funding to branch out even further, said Dazzo. “We are very excited.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
