CRISFIELD, MD - The City of Crisfield launched a survey to gauge community interest in a drone medical delivery project operated by the University of Maryland.
John Slaughter is the Director of the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Research and Operations Center (UROC). The center's primary focus is bringing life-saving medical supplies to isolated communities.
"Those who just don't have a good reliable source of transportation that are on the mainland and in particular on Smith Island who have nothing other than, you know, ferry boat service back and forth," Slaughter said.
UROC is partnering with Crisfield pharmacies to test the program on the mainland before sending drones over the Chesapeake Bay to deliver on Smith Island.
Marion Pharmacy supplies prescription medications to Smith Islanders via ferry boat daily, but seasonal weather sometimes causes delays.
"There's been a couple of days that we've had to hold the medicine," Maddie Johns with Marion Pharmacy said. "Especially in the wintertime when there's ice."
Charity Marshall grew up on Smith Island before relocating to Crisfield. She understands the challenge of relying on the ferry for important deliveries during harsh weather firsthand.
"There are people, for example, like my mother, who needs her medicine," Marshall said. "It's an everyday thing she has to take for her health and her survival."
Marshal told WBOC she thinks the drones could work in tandem with existing ferries.
"They could definitely work hand-in-hand," she said. "It would be very helpful to have people like having drones over there to deliver that medicine."
UROC is working with the commercial company DroneUp on this pilot. DroneUp was involved in a similar program on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in October 2024, delivering medicine from Onancock to Tangier Island.
Crisfield community members can find the survey here.