The innovation can help save precious lives by reducing time to reach remote locations
Scientists in the UK have tested a jet suit for paramedics that can help them reach hard to access areas within a couple of minutes to help aid people in need of immediate medical attention.
The suit is developed in collaboration with the Great North Air Ambulance Service and Gravity Industries. The test flight cut 25 minutes upward hike to a flight that barely lasted 90 seconds. The test was done in England’s Lake District, a national park about 110 kilometers northwest of Leeds. The area was selected to carry the test out the flying paramedic suit due to its high volume of climbing-related injuries, and unique landscape.
Innovation to save lives
Andy Mawson, director of operations and paramedic at GNAAS, said that there was an obvious need for something like this. Dozens of people are injured in this hard to reach area.
“It showed dozens of patients every month within the complex but relatively small geographical footprint of the Lakes,” Mawson said. “We could see the need. What we didn’t know for sure is how this would work in practice. Well, we’ve seen it now and it is, quite honestly, awesome.”
“We think this technology could enable our team to reach some patients much quicker than ever before,” he added. “In many cases this would ease the patient’s suffering. In some cases, it would save their lives.”
One for the future
The technology can certainly be more than useful in remote and hilly areas. We might see a whole new field of jet suit trained paramedics in times to come. This innovation can help save many lives especially in developing nations where medical facilities in the far-off areas are often absent.