Reno, Nev.-based tech startup Flirtey is developing a drone service that delivers portable defibrillators to local 911 callers who report symptoms of cardiac arrest, reports CNBC.
Here are five things to know.
1. Flirtey partnered with REMSA Health, a Reno-based ambulance and emergency health services provider, for the initiative.
2. When a 911 call is placed, drones will fly from stores owned and operated by Flirtey's commercial clients to the location of the emergency.
3. The drone will lower the 5-pound defibrillator on a line for the bystander to access and use.
4. J.W. Hodge, REMSA's chief of operations for healthcare, hopes the drones will reach patients faster than an ambulance during emergency situations.
"Many communities have done a good job of deploying defibrillators, so you will have them on airplanes, in some office buildings and schools and so on," he told CNBC. "Yet they're not always within reach. At the same time, every minute someone suffers cardiac arrest without some intervention like CPR or an electrical shock, their chance of survival dips 10 percent."
5. Flirtey and REMSA expect to launch the drone delivery service in early 2018.
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