ONANCOCK, Va. — After Onancock resident Elva Malone recently broke her hip, getting around hasn’t been easy for her.
I was with her when she received word that a medical drone would be dropping off her medication in minutes. As it approached, we heard a low hum. As the drone got close to her house, excitement built.
The drone, operated by Virginia Beach-based DroneUp, took off from Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital. Elva is one of the first patients in Virginia to be part of a test program using drones to drop off medicine.
“I think it's great. I’m absolutely thrilled that I have the opportunity personally to be part of that," Elva said.
As the drone came into sight, a package carrying Elva's medication came down from the sky and was placed right in front of her.
“I’m delighted that this could happen, here in town, but I hope this expands to the more rural areas where it's harder for people, she said.
That is the goal of Old Dominion University’s VISA (Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy) program.
VISA's Deputy Director John Costulis tells me it's a complicated endeavor with many layers.
“We wanted to make sure that hospital operations were not impacted and we could maintain chain of custody, HIPAA, all the types of things you need to make sure you’re delivering medicines the right way," said Costulis.
Payload capacity is 10 to 15 pounds, so light medical supplies and medicine would be the cargo.
There are weather factors to consider when making the deliveries. He tells me winds have to be below 25 miles per hour.
“That could be a limitation. But when you do the systems analysis and you look at the modeling and simulation, there are a lot of days in the year when the winds are less than 25 mph," said Costulis.
He goes on to say, “It might delay a day or two but we’re planning right now on delivering medicines on a 90-day prescription cycle. So what we’d do is back up three to four days and maybe deliver their medicines a day or two early.”
Serving a mostly rural community of 55,000, Riverside Shore says it's the solution to a problem.
“There’s a lot of issues with medication adherence where patients cannot get to the pharmacy and pick up medications," according to the president of Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital, Nick Chuquin.
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While it will take two to three years before the service is online, medical providers say it will be worth waiting for, especially for the 450 residents of Tangier Island which is only accessible by boat.
“When our physician assistant on the island prescribes a medication, those patients have to wait for somebody who works on the water for the ferry to run or the mailboat to run," said Chuquin. “We have seen delays of three to six days for patients to be able to pick up medication."
While experiments with medical drone delivery have been taking place in other parts of the country, this program is the first of its kind in Virginia. ODU’s VISA program was the only program in the state to get the green light and funding for medical drone delivery.
Old Dominion was awarded a grant of $1.877 million dollars by the US Department of Transportation to get the project off the ground. The grant is part of the Transportation Department's SMART initiative. SMART stands for Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation.
And for patients like Elva and others who live in the far corners of our community, it can be positively life-changing.
“I feel like it's a really futuristic thing, and at my age to be a part of something that’s so advanced [and helps deliver] medicine and care for people, it's great," she said.
