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To’hajiilee unites in fight against COVID-19

To’hajiilee unites in fight against COVID-19

By Colleen Keane
Special to the Times

ALBUQUERQUE

As of Wednesday, there are no reported cases of the coronavirus, or Dikos Ntsaaígíí-19, in To’hajiilee.

Tuesday evening, the Navajo Nation reported one positive case of Corona virus in Bernalillo County. While rumors are flying around that the case is from To’hajiilee, Dr. Sheryl O’Shea of the local clinic said no tests that have been administered by the clinic have come back positive as of yet.

“So far, we are ok,” she said Wednesday morning. But, she added the virus is spreading so fast, “We are ready to respond, if it happens.”

She said the case in question could be from a To’hajiilee family living in Albuquerque. The Navajo satellite community is located 30 miles west of Albuquerque. There are around 3,000 residents. “The community is listening to leadership,” said O’Shea, the health clinic medical director.

O’Shea said President Jonathan Nez and chapter President Mark Begay, Vice President Jacqueline Platero and Secretary/Treasurer Jordan Etcitty have been aggressive in the fight against Dikos Ntsaaígíí. Early in the pandemic, Nez ordered citizens to follow Center for Disease Control guidelines to stay at home, wash hands, don’t touch faces, keep a distance of six feet from others and sanitize surfaces and materials.

“We are giving out the same information, but it means more when it comes from leadership,” O’Shea said. “It has a huge impact. People are doing a really good job. They are taking this seriously.”

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When Helen Tafoya heard about COVID-19, she moved from Albuquerque back to her family’s land near To’hajiilee’s eastern housing area. Tafoya lives in a small trailer, powers up lights and heating with a generator and uses the cigarette lighter in her vehicle to charge her cell phone.

To keep informed about tribal notices, she regularly checks Facebook sites to get updates from the Navajo Nation, the local clinic and the chapter. Then, she passes along the information via texts or phone calls to family and friends. “I don’t want to get sick and I don’t want them to get sick,” she said. Whenever she notices someone who isn’t abiding by the tribal orders, she reminds them, “Six feet away, six feet away!”

To’hajiilee community member Keri Jojola lives in the city. She’s also following tribal orders and hasn’t seen her family for many weeks. “I don’t want to put my family at risk because I am in the city,” she said. “I am potentially more exposed to the virus than they are.”

Like Tafoya, she shares information with family and friends over the phone or through the internet. “Actually I just learned they are holding the chapter meeting through the online Go-To-Meeting website. I really commend the chapter for using technology to get the information out,” she said. “We have to do our part to follow their recommendations,” she added.

Platero, the chapter vice president who is also a member of the city’s Commission on American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, said, “We have been a step ahead to help our people.”

Alexander Varga, the health clinic’s chief pharmacist said that residents can’t let their guard down. “We are fortunate that we don’t have any positive cases to date,” he said. “But no community is immune to the coronavirus.”

Varga said that’s because Dikos Ntsaaígíí-19 is extremely contagious and it’s hard to tell who has it. “I could have the coronavirus right now, even though I don’t have any symptoms, no fever, no cough,” he said.

Clinic takes action

In early March, the clinic rolled out an instant command plan, which began with a prevention campaign created and carried out by community health representatives.

There are three CHRs and three diabetes prevention educators on the health clinic staff. CHR Jerrilyn Manning said the campaign is largely conducted on the To’hajiilee Dineh Facebook page. Updated daily, postings reinforce the president’s orders and chapter advisories.

To reach seniors who don’t have internet service, Manning brings them educational flyers printed in Navajo when she’s delivering meds from the clinic and lunches prepared by the senior center. She said social distancing is practiced during home visits. “We knock on the door, leave the deliveries, walk away and watch to make sure the family comes out to get them before driving away,” explained Manning.

O’Shea said the housekeeping staff is on the front lines too, cleaning the facility six times a day instead of the previous three. “They are phenomenal,” she said. As part of the clinic’s proactive plan, new policies were put into place including 90-day med refills instead of 30, curbside delivery of meds, non-emergency medical, dental and behavioral health visits conducted by phone and masks worn at all times by staff and patients.

Partnerships

Partnerships have also made a difference in the response to COVID-19 at To’hajiilee. “I’m on the phone for hours a day,” said Chapter President Begay. Most of his calls have been with Sacred Wind Communications, a New Mexico telecom company, and the city of Albuquerque.

For the past several years, Sacred Wind has been upgrading the internet system to make it faster and more reliable using fiber-optics. But lots of red tape with rights of way and permits has drawn out the completion date to the fall of this year.

To connect the community during this critical time, the company is working with the chapter to install a temporary tower, according to Sacred Wind CEO John Badal. The stand-in system, which will be up and running any day now, will connect an unserved area north of the chapter and give existing customers an opportunity to upgrade to broadband at a “heavy discount,” “so that students can participate in online academic programs this summer,” advised Badal in an email.

An immediate wi-fi site near the senior center is also in the works. The city of Albuquerque also responded quickly. Soon after the chapter requested help with water, the city delivered hundreds of gallons in a tanker truck and parked it in front of the old Head Start building near the chapter house.

Terry Sloan, Navajo/Hopi, is Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House People Clan), born for the Tó’aheedlíinii (Water-Flows-Together Clan). He is originally from Shiprock. As Mayor Tim Keller’s tribal liaison, Sloan helped with the water delivery. “Anything we can do to help, we will do that,” he said.

The Navajo Nation is providing $25,000 to each chapter. Platero said the funds would be used for the water department to make sure the community doesn’t run out of water.

For the health clinic, the chapter requested an additional $500,000 from the Navajo Nation for medical equipment.

“We are praying and telling our community to help each other in this time of need,” Begay said. “We have never seen anything like this before.” “I hope people are listening,” said Jojola. “We have to keep encouraging each other.” As of Tuesday, April 7, the Navajo Nation has confirmed a total of 384 cases of Dikos Ntsaaígíí-19 throughout the Nation.

The Alamo Navajo Health Clinic reports that one of the new cases is in Alamo, another satellite community located two hours southwest of Albuquerque.

Information: opvp.navajo-nsn.gov, ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19 or 928-871-7014.


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