ArcherFRS launches drone delivery program for whole blood in Florida trauma response
ArcherFRS is launching drone delivery of whole blood for severe trauma scenes in Florida. The program is led through emergency medical operations with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Tampa General Hospital, OneBlood, the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine and the Florida Center for Emergency Medical Services.
The system is designed to deliver whole blood directly to severe hemorrhagic trauma scenes in under three minutes on average. The first deployment will place ArcherFRS systems at Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Station 9 in the Faulkenburg/Sabal Park area and Station 37 in Riverview, covering about 70 square miles.
ArcherFRS will run the capability as a fully managed service to limit the operational burden on the fire-rescue agency. The company will install and maintain Ground Control Hubs at participating stations, while paramedics at emergency scenes will be able to request deliveries from mobile devices; Hillsborough County Fire Rescue will retain operational control and Certificate of Waiver authority.
The initiative is part of ArcherFRS’s Champion Hospital Partner Program, which brought Tampa General Hospital into the effort to help introduce the pre-hospital capability to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. The model is intended to align hospitals, emergency agencies and clinical stakeholders when agency funding for emergency medical technology remains uncertain.
The whole blood program builds on ArcherFRS work in Florida with Manatee County EMS and Tampa General Hospital on 911-integrated delivery of AEDs and Narcan. ArcherFRS systems can carry payloads of about 6.5 to 7 pounds, operate day or night under appropriate conditions and provide roughly 35 to 50 square miles of coverage per hub, potentially moving critical care closer to patients before they reach a hospital.