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160km (~100 miles) in particular seems limiting. There's a critical access hospital in the rural Oregon community I live in that occasionally needs more blood
by repiret 9y ago
160km (~100 miles) in particular seems limiting. There's a critical access hospital in the rural Oregon community I live in that occasionally needs more blood in a hurry, but it wouldn't have enough range to get out here. Plus with only a 101km/h (63 MPH) cruising speed, its not going to show up any sooner than ground transportation.
I can see why this is useful in Rwanda where the ground transportation infrastructure isn't as developed, but I'd be surprised if there are a lot of places in the US where its range is long enough to cover a hospital that can't keep its blood bank adequately supplied with ground transportation.
- krab 9y agoIf I understood it correctly, the range could be doubled if there's the land/launch station at the destination. It's hard to maintain 100 km/h average speed on the ground. Plus if you need to deliver a small but valuable package, you can save the cost of a full car and a driver.
- maxerickson 9y agoYeah that was a big part of my question. 50 miles doesn't buy you much in rural areas. And distance from other facilities is a requirement for critical access hospitals, with nearly every rural facility participating in that program. They are also only going to be able to get business to the extent that they are priced cheaper than just wasting blood, so there's a cap there.