A middle-aged business jet passenger feels pain in his chest and shows signs of a potential heart attack. Cruising at 40,000ft, the aircraft is 30min from the nearest diversion airport.
What happens next is a matter of critical importance for the operator, the outfit’s head of operations and safety team, and emergency medical responders on the ground – not to mention the passenger facing a life-or-death scenario.
Keeping everyone informed with the “best possible information in a timely manner” in the mission of MD Onboard, a relatively new company that has rolled out an in-flight medical emergencies assistant that leverages the latest technologies, according to chief executive Grant Jeffery.
“Basically, the technology we have created is an ecosystem where everything is at the fingertips of the flight department and the crew,” he says. “For the last 40 years, the way in-flight medical advice has been delivered is via a phone call. You’re sitting in the flight deck, you pick up the phone, the service providers answer and those service providers expect to get a description of the event.”
MD Onboard endeavours to “give the doctors eyes”, providing high-quality video over low bandwidth to observe the patient’s condition and broader situation.
“A doctor wants to see the environment, and they want to be able to assess the context of what’s going on, as well,” Jeffery says. “We have two-way video that gives the crew the ability to communicate in real time with doctors and paramedics.”
Through parent company Northwell Health, a Northeast USA-based healthcare provider, MD Onboard has a tele-health facility based in Long Island, New York that is staffed with medical professionals at all hours.
“What we have is a team of paramedics who are trained on our system and trained on aviation,” Jeffery says.
MD Onboard is making its debut at the NBAA show after appearing at the EBACE show in Geneva in May. Jeffrey describes the show in Las Vegas as the company’s “formal coming out party” in the business aviation sector, adding that interest in the company’s services has been strong at the show.
To date, about 10 business aviation operators and several unnamed commercial airlines in Asia and the Middle East are engaged with MD Onboard’s technologies. Jeffery expects another 10 business jet operators to come aboard in the next few months. It is focused on growing in the USA, and continuing to develop its technologies.
“This part of the industry needs innovation,” Jeffrey says. “It’s been in a stagnant state for many years. You have a healthcare group like Northwell, which is a $23 billion company, and all they do is innovate in healthcare. You have them focusing on a market like aviation and I think that’s going to see some remarkable innovation.”
