Drone prescription delivery service takes flight in Utah
Oct 4, 2022, 1:17 PM | Updated: 6:34 pm
SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — You can get your next prescription without leaving your home now that Zipline, a new drone delivery service, has lifted off from South Jordan.
This is the company’s first distribution center in Utah.
Zipline began drone delivery service in 2016 in Rwanda. The company brought its worldwide experience of transporting goods and medicine to people here to the Beehive State.
It partnered with Intermountain Healthcare providing drones to drop off prescriptions, over-the-counter meds, and other items from the pharmacy.
HOW IT WORKS
Zipline gave us an up-close of how the system works from when it gets an order, to how it’s placed in the Zipline drone and then dropped off.
The drones are fixed-wing aircraft, making them more efficient and able to fly farther.
“As soon as a patient signs up and is eligible, they’ll get access to an ordering platform where they can order a variety of over-the-counter items such as COVID test or Tylenol, schedule a delivery time or say as soon as possible in which case will make it there in as little as 15 minutes,” said Stephanie Krieger, head of customer success for Zipline.
I got a close up look at a new drone delivery service launching today in Utah… what it will drop off, and where? We’ve got the answers for you on LIVE AT NOON on @KSL5TV Join us! pic.twitter.com/WffclcAosm
— Tamara Vaifanua (@TamaraVaifanua) October 4, 2022
Connor French, chief regulatory officer, for Zipline says they’re excited to be in Utah. “With the system, we’re really trying to envision transporting physical goods with the ease of sending a text message, from baby food in Arkansas to COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana to blood in Rwanda to prescription and over-the-counter medication here in Utah.”
If customers are interested, they can sign up to use the service and place orders.
Zipline will service local communities within a few miles of the Zipline distribution center. Over time, it will gradually add new distribution centers, households, and community drop-off locations.
Over the next five years, the goal is to serve one million people in the Salt Lake Valley.
You can sign up for Zipline here, there’s no fee and you do not have to be an Intermountain Healthcare patient.
