During the first half of the Jul. 22 HAI@Work webinar, HAI honored one of the 2021 Salute to Excellence Golden Hour Award recipients, Dr. Joseph Scalea from the University of Maryland Medical Center. To celebrate the award, HAI released an exclusive interview with Dr. Scalea and a new video highlighting the work of his team, which made the drone that was the first #UAS to transport a human organ for transplant, in April 2019.

During the second half of the webinar, HAI President and CEO James Viola and panelist Harrison Wolf, director of global aviation policy for drone logistics company Zipline, discussed the benefits of using drones for air medical operations as well as details on how the company uses UAS to execute lifesaving missions, including preventing postbirth hemorrhaging through timely blood transfers, delivering medication to hard-to-reach patients, and more. The panelists also discussed the future of UAS capabilities, including human patient transfers. They concluded the webinar with a Q&A, which answered audience questions, including which altitudes to use for safe drone operations, how drone operators can avoid crashes with fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and much more.