Researchers test role of drones in delivering pandemic supplies to remote Indigenous communities – University Affairs

The Alberta-based team has been using unmanned aerial vehicles to explore alternative health-care delivery options for hard-to-access locations.

A team of professionals from the University of Calgary, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Stoney Nakoda Nation have been testing the use of drones into help remote communities cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The project uses drones to deliver supplies like COVID-19 testing kits and personal protective equipment to the Morley, Bighorn and Eden Valley, the three Indigenous communities that comprise the Stoney Nakoda Nation.

The project came out of a chance meeting between John Conly, medical director of the W21C Research and Innovation Centre at the university’s Cumming School of Medicine, and SAIT researcher Wade Hawkins in 2019. The two shared a mutual interest in how drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, can be used for health-care administration in hard-to-access locations. That conversation would prove crucial come spring 2020, and in June, with approval by the Stoney Nakoda Nation council, their drone project was underway.

Read More: https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/researchers-test-role-of-drones-in-delivering-pandemic-supplies-to-remote-indigenous-communities/