Transporting patient medications, pints of blood or lab work is getting easier for Upstate University Hospital with the use of drones.
The hospital officially cut the ribbon on its new Air Upstate Drone Port Tuesday. It’s the home base for the drones, before they depart for each mission. The hospital was already transporting laboratory specimens by drone at their downtown campuses. President Mantosh Dewan said the drone program is still relatively new.
“We want to fly into a brilliant, beautiful, technology driven future so that we can serve patients better but, also widen the scope," Dewan said. "As you know, we are a regional academic medical center and this allows us to reach more people, more quickly.”
Since 2023, the hospital has also been using drones to fly medications from its outpatient pharmacy on Onondaga Hill to patients being discharged from its Community General Campus. CEO Doctor Robert Corona said the program is very time efficient.
“Convenience for the patient, they don’t have to go to the pharmacy and logistically, it’s more efficient. Drones are a lot cheaper than ground transportation,” Corona said.
Although Corona adds, it has cost millions of dollars to develop the program. Upstate University Hospital also has a high-performance drone in its fleet with a top speed of 60 miles per hour. Pilots plan to fly the drone to its Cancer Center in Verona. Air Upstate also received FAA clearance to fly to Utica as part of a 50 mile drone corridor, to connect Wynn Hospital.
