The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia
UBC Strategic Plan
  • Core Areas and Strategies
    • People and Places
      • Strategy 1: Great People
      • Strategy 2: Inspiring Spaces
      • Strategy 3: Thriving Communities
      • Strategy 4: Inclusive Excellence
      • Strategy 5: Systems Renewal
    • Research Excellence
      • Strategy 6: Collaborative Clusters
      • Strategy 7: Research Support
      • Strategy 8: Student Research
      • Strategy 9: Knowledge Exchange
      • Strategy 10: Research Culture
    • Transformative Learning
      • Strategy 11: Education Renewal
      • Strategy 12: Program Redesign
      • Strategy 13: Practical Learning
      • Strategy 14: Interdisciplinary Education
      • Strategy 15: Student Experience
    • Local and Global Engagement
      • Strategy 16: Public Relevance
      • Strategy 17: Indigenous Engagement
      • Strategy 18: Alumni Engagement
      • Strategy 19: Global Networks
      • Strategy 20: Co-ordinated Engagement
  • Our Plan in Action
  • Foundations of the Plan
    • Vision, Purpose & Values
    • Ten Goals
    • Themes
  • About
    • Development of the Plan
    • Plans and Frameworks across UBC
    • Strategic Plan Funding Calls
    • Frequently Asked Questions
Local and Global Engagement > Strategy 16: Public Relevance > Using drone deliveries to enhance health care in rural, remote and Indigenous communities
Local and Global Engagement
  • Strategy 16: Public Relevance
  • Strategy 17: Indigenous Engagement
  • Strategy 18: Alumni Engagement
  • Strategy 19: Global Networks
  • Strategy 20: Co-ordinated Engagement
Story

Using drone deliveries to enhance health care in rural, remote and Indigenous communities

February 9, 2023
Local and Global Engagement | Strategy 16: Public Relevance
Theme: Inclusion
This UBC team is using drone technology to help shrink the inequity gap in health care. From left: Dr. Samya Vellani, Dr. John Pawlovich, Jenna Burke, and Heidi Barkman.

A UBC partnership that uses drones to deliver medical supplies could make health care more accessible to isolated communities across Canada

Imagine you’re in a life-threatening car accident in a rural community. You need blood, but the community has none. It’s cut off from additional medical help by a mountain range, forest or body of water.

“For generations, we’ve had a medical system where we tend to move patients to resources, as opposed to resources to patients,” says Dr. John Pawlovich, a family doctor who is the Rural Doctors’ UBC Chair on Rural Health. If you need blood, you have to travel to a larger community. “It’s the same problem around rural Canada and around the world—resources that patients need are either in short supply or they don’t exist in rural, remote or Indigenous communities.”

That’s why Dr. Pawlovich and his team at the University of British Columbia see such potential for drone technology in health care. They’re working closely with the Stellat’en First Nation and the Village of Fraser Lake, located west of Prince George in northern BC, to test drones as a means of delivering medical supplies to isolated communities.

Read the full article on Beyond.

Through Strategy 16: Public Relevance, UBC is working to align our efforts more closely with priority issues in British Columbia and beyond, through dialogue and knowledge exchange.

Explore More: Strategy 16: Public Relevance

February 8, 2023

Older adults with cancer need coordinated and specialized health services

Previous

March 22, 2023

Helping Rwanda rebuild

Next

Download the Plan (PDF 5.9 MB)

Visit Overview and Facts for more about UBC.

Unit Name
1234 Street
Vancouver, BC Canada V0V 0V0
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility