More than a dozen people were gathered on the roof of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation hospital to watch a drone take off on Saturday, Sept. 23. In theory, when that drone later returned it could have been carrying anything from medicine to medical supplies from a nearby warehouse.
YKHC Vice President for Outpatient Care and Village Health Patricia Smith was excited about the possibilities.
“We think that this is important in the event that for some reason we're not able to get to our warehouse to get critical supplies. Like pharmaceuticals, immunizations, medications, things like that that would be critical in order for us to run our hospital,” Smith said.
The test flight was the main event of Drone Fest: a weekend dedicated to highlighting drone technologies and capabilities. And it could be a glimpse into the future of Western Alaska.
One of the goals of Bethel Regional High School’s Upward Bound Club, which coordinated Drone Fest, is to put local, first-generation college students at the center of this type of innovation and change to encourage post-secondary education.
Upward Bound is a core part of the Teaching Through Technology Alaska program. That program is operated in 15 sites around Alaska, including Kotzebue, Wrangell, Shishmaref, and Quinhagak. Drone Fest was part of a gathering that celebrated science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
“There are a lot of new students who were learning how to fly drones in the gymnasium at Bethel Regional High School, and are excited to take things where they can and start earning their licenses and being involved in their community,” said University of Alaska Fairbanks Upward Bound and Teaching Through Technology Director Adam Low.
A lot of people flew in to Bethel to support Drone Fest, including John Robinson. He’s the director of operations at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Center for Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration (ACUASI). ACUASI does a lot of airspace integration, integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones into the National Airspace System. Robinson said that the center’s goal is to make Alaska the number one spot for drones in the country.
Robinson believes that drones could be critical in resolving some supply chain issues in the state. One example he used is the concept of last mile logistics, which refers to the last phase of transportation: getting people and packages from hubs to their final destinations. But he added an Alaskan twist: because of the state’s size, it’s the last hundreds of miles.
“And we really believe that drones are going to be that turning point that changes a lot of ways of life for a lot of people for the better. Improving everyone around us and being able to bring in drones as a supplement for what, traditionally, Alaskans have relied on for air traffic or possibly barges here in Bethel is a good example. Drones will be able to supplement that and just increase the quality of life all the way around,” Robinson said.
Robinson said that drones can also free up manpower by replacing people doing monotonous tasks.
“Drones are really awesome, because if it’s dumb, dangerous, or boring, drones tend to do it better," Robinson said. "So a boring mission, long term climate change, looking at permafrost studies, things that a drone thrives in those things. Because it can stay up for hours, there’s no pilot on board, there’s no concerns about fatigue. Changing on a crew member as easy as literally tapping somebody on the shoulder out. And they’re able to fly and continue the mission because the aircraft’s not getting tired, and people can be further away from dangerous settings.”
For example, Robinson said that if someone wanted to look at a forest fire or some other catastrophe, a drone can conduct aerial reconnaissance and keep a traditional pilot out of harm’s way.
A Merck representative also flew in from the east coast to support the festival. The research-intensive biopharmaceutical company, which is headquartered in New Jersey, has been involved in a legendary medical delivery in Alaska.
It was almost a hundred years ago when a desperate radio telegram from Dr. Curtis Welch in Nome, Alaska, was sent to all the major Alaska towns, to the territorial governor, and to the U.S. Public Health Service. It said that diphtheria was spreading through the icebound community. Children had already died, and the local supply of diphtheria antibiotics had expired the previous summer.
The “Great Race of Mercy” was born. Weather prevented air delivery, so relay teams of sled dogs and their mushers raced against the clock to deliver 300,000 units of an antibiotic produced by Merck. They completed the 674-mile journey over what later became known as the Iditarod Trail in a record-breaking five days and seven hours, despite whiteout conditions and frigid temperatures.
So testing out delivery of medicine to Bethel’s hospital is particularly fitting and could be the next step in rural delivery.
Smith said that this technology could improve patient care by being able to get medications and other supplies where they’re needed quickly, especially when they don’t have ground transportation available or they lack personnel to run for supplies.
“This kind of technology, drone technology, is very exciting for us. We are a very vast region here in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta. And we have 42 village clinics, five sub-regional clinics, and a hospital here in Bethel. And so I think the possibilities are really exciting for ways that we might be able to get supplies, pharmaceuticals, immunizations to people closer to home,” Smith said.
Piloting the drone for this historical flight was Bethel Regional High School junior Jeremy Thatcher. The 16-year-old Thatcher recently received his Drone Pilot’s license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Thatcher said that although the mission was small, it was a big moment for rural villages.
“This is like, for later on, to show you’re able to bring medicine on to or in villages, to drop them off. And a drone that you can’t see in line of sight can come back,” Thatcher said.
Thatcher will continue to focus on STEM.
“When I graduate, I’m looking to go to college for electrical engineering. And maybe if I can join ACUASI, and get more into drones, and maybe get into the drone business of like, retail. Or if it’s in Bethel, I could probably fly over to a tower and see what’s wrong with it,” Thatcher said.
