While the Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services is involved in a research program using drones, their use is being tested overseas in cases where people have had cardiac arrests.
Locally, the paramedic service is partnering with Renfrew County where research is underway on how drones could help in remote areas to pinpoint accident locations or deliver medicine, or defibrillators.
Meanwhile, researchers in Sweden found, in a study on cardiac arrest, that drones delivering defibrillators arrived about five minutes after launching, 17 minutes faster than ambulances.
The study results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Experts say the results in Sweden “are remarkable and proof the idea is worth exploring.”
The next step would be to test the idea on real patients.
Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death worldwide, killing more than six million people each year.
The Swedish researchers say they think drones could help reduce those statistics.
