28 | JANUARY 23 • 2020
Saving Lives
Tukel brothers
develop drone to
deliver life-saving
medications.
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
Jews in the D
M
atthew and Connor
Tukel have some big
things in common:
They happen to be brothers;
they are both in medical school;
they graduated from Hillel
Day School and Frankel Jewish
Academy; and, just recent-
ly, they reinvented the way
anti-overdose drugs such as nal-
oxone are delivered to patients
by using a drone.
The brothers discovered that a
drone can deliver anti-overdose
medication, EpiPens, anticon-
vulsant medications and even
automatic defibrillators.
“We had both been working
at Detroit Receiving Hospital
in the emergency depart-
ment and we observed a lot of
patients who were coming into
the emergency room who had
overdosed on heroin,
” Matthew
said. “We learned that a lot of
patients were dying because first
responders weren’
t able to reach
them fast enough.
”
During that time, Matthew
and Connor were working with
drone technology and experi-
enced an aha! moment: Why
not create a drone to deliver
medications in high-risk situa-
tions?
“Our drone is not meant
to replace first responders,
but instead supplement their
efforts,
” Matthew said. “The
problem that we were exposed
to was that medication wasn’
t
reaching the patients fast
enough or there wasn’
t enough
staff to help.
”
Conner added, “The point is
that there is this readily accessi-
ble treatment that can be given
by anyone. This is about bolster-
ing access and enabling bystand-
ers to help these patients.
”
Their drone is designed with
a high-intensity headlamp, a
first-person view camera, pay-
load delivery system and shock-
proof container for carrying
intranasal naloxone.
“For first responders, if they
have a patient in dangerous
areas where there’
s not a lot of
light or a high prevalence of
crime, this could be a tool to
survey the area before they head
in,
” Connor said.
Matthew, 25, is in his third
year of medical school at Wayne
State University. Connor, 22, is
in his first year at Icahn School
of Medicine at Mount Sinai in
Manhattan.
Once they solidified their
idea, the pair acquired the best
consumer drone and rebuilt it
for the naloxone delivery. They
then obtained an emergency
Matthew and Connor Tukel, right,
with their friend Albert Jose,
who helped design the drone.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF MATTHEW TUKEL