VA Partnership Will Deliver Hypertension Medicine by Drone to Patients in Remote Communities

Patients on Virginia Eastern Shore May Get Blood Pressure Medicine Delivered by Drone

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

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Riverside Health System has announced a partnership with DroneUp, Virginia Institute for Spaceflight & Autonomy (VISA) at Old Dominion University (ODU), the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission, and the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) to start delivering medications to patients on the Eastern Shore and Tangier Island. Last year, the partnership submitted a medical drone delivery project to the U.S. Department of Transportation for funding support. This project was one of 59 proposals granted funding through the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program out of a pool of 389. It was also the only application in the Commonwealth of Virginia to receive a SMART Grant in the program’s inaugural year.

“We are always looking for innovative ways to provide care for our patients,” said Sally Hartman, Riverside’s Senior ViP of Strategic Initiatives. “This partnership provides us with the opportunity to support patients in more rural communities by improving access to prescription medications with fast at-home delivery.”

During the initial planning and prototyping stage, Riverside will make use of DroneUp’s medical cargo drones to test and plan for delivery to patients in rural areas on the Eastern Shore, especially remote communities like Tangier Island. Afterwards, the partnership will move on to implementation, deploying medical cargo drones from Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital (RSMH) to deliver medications directly to a patient’s doorstep. During the process, the patient and Riverside’s care teams will be able to track the delivery in real time. At launch, Riverside will focus on delivering medications for hypertension, a condition that disproportionately affects residents of Eastern Shore compared to the rest of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

“We are excited to see the first medical cargo drone take flight from RSMH in May,” said Nick Chuquin, President of Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital. “The Eastern Shore is a unique geographical area with a rural make-up that can pose accessibility challenges for patients in need of prescription medication. We know that drone service delivery to our patients living in rural areas of our community will not only improve access to medications but also improve patient outcomes and overall health.”

The project was organized last fall with initial funding from VIPC’s Unmanned Systems Center, which has supported other pilot projects in Virginia utilizing unmanned systems. In 2020, VIPC collaborated with DroneUp to find out how effective drone deliveries of test kits were in combating the spread of COVID-19.

“VIPC’s mission is to support game-changing market development initiatives, such as this medical drone delivery service for Riverside’s patients on the Eastern Shore,” said Tracy Tynan, the Director of the Virginia Unmanned Systems Center at VIPC. “VIPC concentrates on​ ​​​investing seed funding during the early stages of technological innovation to stimulate and accelerate economic growth, which increases vital resources for communities throughout the state.”

VISA will serve the project through project management, health outcomes Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation, and workforce development in support of the Accomack- Northampton Planning District Commission, the grant’s submitting organization.

“The drone delivery project truly embodies our mission to ignite growth, talent, and innovation at ODU, our region, and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said VISA Executive Director Dr. David Bowles.

“We’re really excited to be part of revolutionizing transportation of critical medical supplies in rural and other areas for those who really need it and to provide emergency first responders with a safe way to better access and assess hazardous or crisis situations,” said VISA Deputy Director John Costulis.

The partnership is working closely with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to finalize documentation and begin project work on June 1, 2023.

Read more:

• Virginia Natural Gas First in State to Deploy Pipeline Inspection with Drones [VIDEO]
• Wing Launches Drone Delivery Service in Virginia
• New DroneUp Training, Testing and Research Center Shows Their Investment in People
• The DroneUp Drone Delivery Model: Why Second Mover Advantage Has Put Them Out in Front
• DroneUp Acquires Airmap: Another Move Towards Drone Ops on a Very, Very Big Scale

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.