As Peel paramedics face a steady stream of calls for help in Caledon, Brampton and Mississauga, first responders are turning to drone technology in an effort to potentially help bring life-saving interventions to people in need sooner.

Beginning on Tuesday, Peel Regional Paramedic Services unveiled a medical drone response pilot project in Bolton. Under the trial program, a drone could be deployed with medical supplies like a defibrillator, epi pens, naloxone and/or trauma supplies to curtail heavy bleeding to a 911 caller’s location. The supplies are aimed at treating conditions like cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, overdoses, and possible severe trauma.

Based out of a paramedic and fire station off of Highway 50, officials with the service said specially trained paramedic personnel can send the drone within a four-kilometre radius.

“It is mission-specific, so getting time-sensitive medical supplies to someone ahead of paramedic,” Paul Snobelen, a community programs specialist with Peel paramedics, told CityNews during a tour of the drone station retrofitted inside an ambulance.

“We’ve got a boundary setup that is Transport Canada-approved. We file a flight plan saying in this area, we are going to respond to 911 calls.”

After plotting a course and sending the drone to a specific address, a safe spot is found to hover over and the drone descends to around 10 feet above the ground and then the bag of supplies is dropped. It is up to Snobelen or another drone operator to radio to 911 dispatchers to advise the package has been dropped. The 911 call taker will tell the resident where the package is and to bring it to the patient, and that’s when instructions will be given over the phone or through a Facetime connection.

Officials said early data has shown the drone can typically arrive anywhere between three and eight minutes ahead of paramedics travelling in an ambulance.

“Minutes matter in this scenario, so the sooner we have an intervention the better the outcome can be,” Snobelen said.

He said the drone has a maximum speed of 100 km/h, but paramedic personnel have been flying it closer to 40 km/h. Officials added the drone can operate in some inclement weather, but visibility and severe winds are the biggest challenge to flight operations.

“We don’t compete with traffic, we don’t compete with red lights and geography isn’t an issue for us,” Snobelen emphasized.

Alison Crossby, the community programs unit commander, described the new pilot project as providing a fast, “cutting-edge” service. Officials stressed the program won’t replace ambulances and paramedics, but that the services would be in addition to what exists.

“This is the future of technology. It’s the future of innovation. It’s the future of healthcare, and we have seen the need to do this type of activity for several years,” she told CityNews.

“Minutes really do matter in a cardiac arrest or in a life-saving emergency; It can be the difference between somebody recovering and having full cognitive capacity afterwards or not leaving the hospital afterwards. So our goal is to at least make it to every single one of the calls we deploy to 50 per cent of the time.”

Crossby said the cost of getting the pilot project going was nearly $250,000 and that it funded all of the required equipment and software, training, and the initial operating costs to get the program . She said Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre provided grant and research money toward the pilot project.

As the pilot project goes on and after it’s completed, Crossby said the service will be reviewing all of the data it gathered to determine next steps. She added there would be a period of winter maintenance to keep the drone operating to specifications. It’s unclear when the final report on whether or not to continue the pilot project will be tabled for consideration.

When asked what would constitute success for the pilot project, Crossby had a brief answer.

“Saving a life, it’s as simple as that,” she said.