ZappCare is responding to what it sees as a healthcare concern among Native Americans by delivering medications to the Navajo Nation by drone.

“The headlines were, ‘Navajo Nation and Native American people were higher risk.’ And we really got a team together and figured out why is it higher risk,” Mark Atlan, co-founder and CEO of ZappCare, said in a KRQE report concerning COVID-19. “We put these scenarios together and connected the dots. Well, it’s because of lack of access to healthcare.”

ZappCare is a mobile medical company in New Mexico, which is Atlan’s home state. Atlan also has ties to the Native American community, as he is a member of the Apache Nation.

The deliveries were to start this week. 

The goal is to improve general health services for tribal members who are often disadvantaged and go without the care they need, Atlan told KRQE.

The company will start by providing goods for basic preventive care. Future plans call for establishing mobile units that can offer dentistry and cardiology services.

Drones are an ideal way to get medicine to people in the Navajo Nation who generally live in rural areas, and one of the end goals for ZappCare is to provide medical care and jobs so it can spark a resurgence in the economic well-being among the Navajo Nation, it says.