Drones will once again take to the skies this May around Munson Medical Center in Traverse City to test if they can successfully transport supplies between facilities.
A recent report was published in December showing the results of the first tests of the project that took place last spring. According to the report, 67 flights were completed with a 91% success rate.
"We are really lucky here to be able to do this in Northern Michigan and have it impact our communities here," Tracy Cleveland, vice president of supply chain at Munson Healthcare, said.
The program is looking into ways to deliver laboratory samples and pharmaceuticals between Munson Healthcare facilities efficiently. The healthcare system serves 29 counties and has eight hospitals in northern Michigan. Staff for the facilities are currently driving over 90,000 miles yearly to deliver samples between clinics, according to the recent study.
Munson Healthcare facilities partnered with economic development organization Traverse Connect, Central Michigan University Rural Health Excellence Institute and drone companies Bluelite and DroneUp.
Camille Hoisington is the vice president of ecosystem development at Traverse Connect. She said this project was part of Michigan's Advanced Air Mobility Initiative to develop new ways of transporting people and goods in the air.
"We're looking at this as being almost like a blueprint for other healthcare systems to be able to adopt to create a faster, more efficient more cost-effective transportation of critical medical supplies between their hospital systems," Hoisington said.
Hoisington said the project could open up possibilities for companies outside of healthcare.
"We see this industry as having huge potential nationally," Hoisington said. "We're looking at this as being an advanced industry that we see potential job creation, workforce development for our region and northern Michigan provides a sort of compelling case study for how drones can move from pilot projects to operational deployment."
Cleveland said that if the rest of testing is successful, Munson Healthcare will start looking to partner with drone companies.
The next two phases will involve drone flights going to further distances outside of the visible line of sight for the drone pilot.
