Drone EMS
Drone Emergency Medical Services
DEMS is to drones what HEMS is to helicopters: an integrated emergency medical response capability, not simply an aircraft.
Why the first minutes matter
The intervention exists. Physical access is the gap.
Most cardiac arrests happen at home, where a defibrillator is rarely close by. DEMS brings it there, while the ambulance is on its way.
of people who have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest do not survive
Lancet Digital Health, 2023
survival could be reached with early CPR and defibrillation
Lancet Digital Health, 2023
of cardiac arrests happen in private homes
Lancet Digital Health, 2023
What DEMS does
Deliver · Inform · Enable
Deliver
Critical medical equipment brought to the patient or scene. The healthcare provider defines the medical payload.
AED delivered before the ambulance in 67% of cases, median 3 min 14 s earlier.
Lancet Digital Health, 2023
Inform
Real-time aerial situational awareness for dispatch and responding crews.
Live video to dispatch in every completed mission.
BMC Emergency Medicine, 2026
Enable
Earlier intervention by people on scene, guided by the dispatcher.
AED attachment rose from 27% to 50% after dispatcher training.
Resuscitation Plus, 2026
Picking up the delivered AED. February 2026
Enable, in practice
The people already there act first.
When the AED lands, a bystander brings it to the patient and attaches it while the dispatcher guides every step. The AED itself gives voice instructions and only delivers a shock if one is needed.
How a DEMS mission works
At a 112 call, in five steps
The ambulance is dispatched as usual. A DEMS resource is dispatched alongside it, never instead of it.
Remote operations centre and DEMS system monitoring
The emergency is identified
The dispatcher identifies a suspected cardiac arrest and dispatches the ambulance as usual.
A DEMS resource is dispatched
The alarm reaches the Everdrone DEMS system from the existing dispatch workflow.
The flight
The aircraft launches automatically from a strategically positioned DEMS base and flies directly to the scene under continuous supervision by a flight supervisor.
The delivery
The AED is lowered by winch close to the patient, within 15 m of the patient or building in 91% of deliveries (Lancet Digital Health, 2023).
The intervention
The dispatcher guides a bystander to retrieve and attach the AED. LiveView shows the scene to dispatch while the ambulance is on its way.
When a mission is not initiated
Before every flight, weather, airspace and the delivery location are assessed. If conditions are not met, the dispatch centre continues according to its ordinary procedures. Which incidents activate a DEMS resource is decided by the healthcare provider.
Delivered as a service
Built into the workflow you have.
Everdrone runs the aircraft, DEMS bases, flight supervision, maintenance and support. Your organisation needs no drone pilots. A DEMS resource is dispatched automatically alongside the ambulance, with no extra step at the dispatch desk. The dispatcher's task is to guide the bystander once the AED has landed, and DEMS Academy trains dispatch teams for exactly that.
Medical payloads
Defined by healthcare
The healthcare provider decides which DEMS applications and medical payloads are used, according to clinical protocols. AED delivery for cardiac arrest is the most established application.
E3 carries twice the payload of the previous generation, so the same system can support other applications the provider defines.
AED for cardiac arrest
In live operation
Adrenaline for anaphylaxis
Provider defined
Naloxone for opioid overdose
Provider defined
Bleeding-control equipment
Provider defined
Configured to your organisation
The medical payload is configured to what your EMS organisation wants to achieve: the AED model you choose, or other equipment for the emergencies you prioritise. You also choose the indicators that matter most, such as time to defibrillation, population coverage or mission volume by emergency type.
Before deployment, DEMS GridPlanner™ simulates DEMS missions against your historical emergency calls, so you see the expected effect before a single base is installed.
Explore a feasibility study →
The LIFEPAK CR2 defibrillator carried by DEMS resources in Västra Götaland
LiveView during an exercise
Real-time aerial situational awareness
Eyes on the scene before anyone arrives
In a 2025 study in western Sweden, the DEMS resource was first or the only resource on scene in 98% of completed missions, with a median arrival time of 4 min 24 s against 8 min 50 s for ground units. Live video reached the dispatch centres in every completed mission.
Fire and rescue dispatchers rated it highest: two thirds reported high value.
BMC Emergency Medicine, 2026
Since June 2026, live missions also trial sending real-time images to ambulance crews on their way, so they know what awaits them.
The Everdrone DEMS system
One company, responsible for the whole system
Everdrone provides the integrated technology, aviation and operational capability required to establish and operate DEMS.
E3 at the DEMS base, Forsåker, Mölndal. August 2026
01
Developed in Sweden, end to end.
We develop the aircraft, the automated DEMS base, the onboard systems and the software ourselves. One team owns performance, safety and integration, so changes are fast and controlled.
02
Approved for populated areas.
Everdrone holds EASA-compliant authorisation for beyond-visual-line-of-sight DEMS operations with no population-density limitations. DEMS resources can reach patients in towns and cities.
03
Proven in real emergencies.
Drone-delivered AEDs from Everdrone's system have been used to defibrillate patients before the ambulance arrived, most recently in Borås in July 2026.
NEJM 2022 · Lancet Digital Health 2023
04
Flexible integration.
DEMS is triggered from the dispatch centre's existing system, including via Rakel where used. LiveView can stream to the dispatch centre and to partner video platforms.
05
Aviation professionals.
Every mission is supervised by flight supervisors with aviation backgrounds, external drone pilot certificates and DEMS Academy courses for complex DEMS missions.
06
Planned for impact.
DEMS GridPlanner™ positions DEMS bases where they create the greatest medical and response-time impact.
DEMS in the chain of survival
Dispatched alongside, never instead
DEMS complements ground EMS, HEMS, volunteer responders and public AEDs. It is dispatched alongside them, never instead of them.
1 · Call
112 call
A caller reports a suspected cardiac arrest
2 · Dispatch
Dispatch centre
Medical criteria decide which resources go
3 · In parallel
Ambulance
Drives to the scene as usual
DEMS resource
Delivers the AED and LiveView
Volunteer responders
SMS-livräddare and public AEDs
4 · On scene
On scene
A bystander attaches the AED, guided by the dispatcher, until the ambulance takes over
Illustrative. HEMS is dispatched according to its own criteria.
Three different models
DEMS, DFR and medical logistics
The aircraft technology may overlap. The mission, workflow and system integration define the category.
Compared on
Medical logistics
Drone as first responder (DFR)
DEMS
Purpose
Move goods between known locations
Bring information from the incident
Bring emergency medical capability to the incident
Trigger
Order or schedule
Incident
Medical emergency
Medical payload
Possible
Usually none
Core capability
Clinical governance
Product-specific
Not defining
Fundamental
See what DEMS could do in your region
A feasibility study uses your own emergency call data to show where DEMS resources should be positioned and what they can achieve.