Zipline Delivers — Order #1,779,877
At 4:45 PM on October 30, Nyagatare District Hospital faced a crisis. A mother in labor suffered a placental abruption, causing severe bleeding. Both of her twins were born prematurely and in distress. Three lives were in danger and the hospital's blood supply was low.
At 4:45 PM on October 30, Nyagatare District Hospital faced a crisis. A mother in labor suffered a placental abruption, causing severe bleeding. Both of her twins were born prematurely and in distress. Three lives were in danger and the hospital's blood supply was low.
By road this blood resupply would take more than six hours. Not fast enough to save these three lives. But this hospital was in luck: this hospital is a part of the Zipline network.
Acting fast, the lab technician did what she’s done several times a day for the last 6 years: she sent a WhatsApp message to Zipline, placing an emergency order of blood. This order was for 8 units of B-red blood cells, platelets, plasma, and cryoprecipitate. This is as much blood as the mother had in her body, before this crisis unfolded.
71 kilometers away Zipline’s team received the request. The team of pharmacists and flight operators packed nearly 7 pounds of blood bags into a Zip. Within 120 seconds, the order was launched and flying to the hospital at 70 miles per hour.
Less than 40 minutes later the hospital received their emergency blood order. Inside the delivery room, clinicians transfused the mother and prepared oxygen therapy for the twins. The hospital team provided two hours of intensive care before updating Zipline on the situation.
The mother had stabilized, and both her twins were alive and breathing on oxygen. This remarkable outcome highlights the tragic divide that still exists in too much of our world today: basic lifesaving healthcare is still determined by your GPS location. In October we crossed 9 years of operations in Rwanda. Now, at thousands of clinics just like Nyagatare, Rwanda, maternal deaths have been nearly eliminated thanks to faster, reliable logistics.
When in need, Zipline delivers.
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This is a true story about a real delivery Zipline made, with some details slightly modified for anonymity.