By Rich Obertots
The days of only providing “air medical transport” are over.
Many years ago we predicted WalMart would be deploying “Walflight” helicopters for both critical medical interventional services as well as to operate “on down time” as mobile Outreach pharmacies and wellness clinics to serve their customers. Yes – delivering online purchases too – was “on the table.” The fact is – the “Save Money – Live Healthier” concept we forecasted is not such an outrageous idea circa 2017.
Innovations in how aviation assets like helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft as-well-as other high-worth assets like Communication Centers are optimized in our transforming healthcare eco-system will have our highly able and agile flight crews and communication specialists providing critical care interventional services that often will not require transport.
New technologies are being deployed that can be flown directly to patients and remote facilities to be operated by our highly skilled flight crews and comm specs to evaluate, intervene and stabilize patients.
Also – we will see aviation assets being used like mobile clinics, Outreach education “Road Shows” and on-demand pharmacies that will have set schedules to serve populations in a wide array of geographic locations.
Our outbound services will not always be remote rural settings.
In densely populated areas – especially with jammed highways – aviation assets – which in time will include large platform drones – will be deploying staff and technologies where surface vehicles require far too much time.
We will be ““Uberizing” and innovating in the delivery of critical medical services as well as playing a role in population and preventative health with novel aviation configurations.
Just think – “The Opposite Rule” whereas the outmoded “Air Medical Transport” model was primarily to deliver patients from outlying areas to tertiary care centers in big cities the new Critical Medical Aviation model will more often be outbound and transporting highly trained professionals and robust mobile technologies like surgical robotics where they will be most impactful in high-density, suburban and sparse population settings.
The idea of a future “Heli-Hospital” is not out of the question.
It’s a new era and ThinkThroughTools is excited to be leading and innovating as Critical Medical Aviation evolves.
If you are interested in taking action in the design and development of Critical Medical Aviation or wish to comment please be in touch: email me at [email protected] or call 330.623.5910.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
