COVID-19 is causing widespread devastation throughout the world. The American Indian/Alaskan Native population is being hit especially hard, facing both economic disparities and some of the poorest health outcomes. Moreover, the mortality rate is higher among the Native population, primarily due to a lack of resources and limited access to healthcare. Inadequate public health infrastructure, limited medical resources, and high rates of poverty are contributing factors to the high rates of infection among Indigenous peoples. These disparities make Native communities on reservations poorly equipped to manage the pandemic. Over a decade ago, Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) recognized the need for health education access and the benefits of training American Indian healthcare professionals in a rural setting, thus leading the college to pursue Health Profession Opportunity grants (HPOG) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Education Access through Rural Training (HEART) Project is the second five-year HPOG the college received. The program was created in 2010 with the intent to provide students with the education and training for occupations in the healthcare field that pay well and are expected to experience labor shortages in the near future.