A Montréal healthcare centre has launched a pilot to see if remote telemedicine technology developed for Canadian Space Agency astronauts could work here on Earth.
Driving the news: Called connected care medical modules (C2M2s), these shipping container-sized hubs can detect, treat, and manage certain conditions. Using AI, they help users measure more than 40 vital metrics and set up virtual consultations with doctors.
Big picture: If you think it’s impossible to see a physician in-person where you live, try doing it in space. Astronauts can’t turn their capsules around if they’re feeling sick, so the CSA awarded multiple Canadian companies contracts to develop autonomous care centres.
Why it matters: C2M2s are an example of how growing space investments can have tangible impacts on Earth. The hubs have been designed with use for Canada’s terrestrial healthcare system in mind and could help boost healthcare access in underserved areas.
- Some prototypes were even built to be transported using Canada’s existing freight transit system, meaning they could be deployed to clinics across the country.
Zoom out: The hubs could be particularly helpful for remote and Indigenous communities. Between 2017 and 2020, over 50% of Métis and off-reserve First Nations people and ~81% of Inuit people living in very remote areas didn’t have a regular healthcare provider.—QH