Carilion Life-Guard launches ‘Land The Drone’ campaign for safety
Noell Saunders, WBDJ7
On Friday, Carilion Clinic Life-Guard pilots and drone operators met at the hangar on McClanahan Street in Roanoke to talk about safe ways to share the airspace.
Hospital staff say drone encounters have caused delays while they were flying patients to the hospital.
“Sometimes people want to video what we are doing as we load a patient. I can’t take off or if they are flying and I’m coming into an landing zone I can’t see them and maybe we hit each other,” said Carilion Life-Guard pilot, Ty Leroy.
Leroy says in many cases patient transports are very time sensitive.
“If it was your family member, you want to give them every benefit you could to get to that trauma center as fast as they can,” Leroy said.
Carilion is launching their ‘Land The Drone’ campaign as an effort to spread the word and educate more people.
The increase of drones in the area is changing the way jobs are done.
Landing zone commander Valerie Press says the hospital is now providing more training.
“We are now having to access the air for obstructions. It’s really important to have a good line of communication with the pilot so you can tell them if they need to change their direction or maneuver around the drone,” Press said.
Carilion is in the process of getting drone operators and emergency personnel to help with the campaign.
