Navajo Community Embraces Support, Testing to Quell Pandemic
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students in the Commitment to Underserved People Program held a drive to help the Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students Lynn Pham, Guadalupe Davila, Nicole Bejany and Thomasina Blackwater hold up face masks they sent to the Navajo Nation.
The virus that causes COVID-19 has had a particularly high impact on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. Residents are widespread on the rural reservation, some lack access to running water, or are more than an hour’s drive from the nearest store selling food and cleaning supplies. The nation also lacked personal protective equipment for health care workers. Several University of Arizona Health Sciences teams sought to ease the burden by collecting and delivering medical and sanitizing supplies and food. The University of Arizona, in partnership with the state, continues to conduct antibody testing in northern Arizona, aiming to test all health care workers and first responders in the state.
The University of Arizona Cancer Center held a donation drive in late May to assist the Navajo Nation, which has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) collected the donations: Margaret Briehl, PhD, principal investigator and professor of pathology; Maria Lluria-Prevatt, PhD, research administrator; Tiffani Begay, MPH, research education core senior program coordinator; Debbie Aguirre, administrative associate.
Margaret Briehl, PhD, principal investigator for the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, sanitizes donations. The Cancer Center donation drive she helped spearhead brought in 1,384 single-use bottles of water, 57 gallons of water, 260 cans of corn, 113 cans of peaches, 60 cans of other fruits and vegetables, 12 cartons of almond milk, 2 large containers of rice, 451 rolls of paper towels, 53 rolls of toilet paper, 21 packages of napkins, 50 bottles of hand sanitizer, 6 gallons of bleach, 7 bottles of bleach wipes, 4 boxes of face masks and 1 box of gloves.
On June 5 Margaret Briehl, PhD, Maria Lluria-Prevatt, PhD, Sofia Prevatt, UArizona alumn Meucci Ilunga, Dennis Ray and Matthew Prevatt helped load a truck to transport donations from the Cancer Center to the Navajo Nation.
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students in the Commitment to Underserved People Program held a drive to help the Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students Lynn Pham, Guadalupe Davila, Nicole Bejany and Thomasina Blackwater hold up face masks they sent to the Navajo Nation.
College of Medicine – Tucson fourth-year student Thomasina Blackwater and Lynn Pham of the college’s Association of Native American Medical Students and the Rural Health Professions Program load hand sanitizer into vehicles for delivery to the Navajo Nation.
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson student Aaron Bia watches as Navajo seamstress Theresa Hatathlie-Delmar sews a surgical cap with material donated in the college’s PPE drive.
Navajo seamstress Theresa Hatathlie-Delmar checks the fit of a surgical cap on College of Medicine – Tucson student Aaron Bia.
Navajo seamstress Theresa Hatathlie-Delmar and College of Medicine – Tucson student Aaron Bia pose with masks made from donated material.
Cora Phillips hands out supplies collected from the University of Arizona Cancer Center drive to people who live in rural areas on the Navajo Nation. Phillips is a member of the Navajo Nation and serves on the Cancer Center’s Community Advisory Committee for the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP), an NCI-funded project at the Cancer Center. The committee consists of leaders who are working in American Indian communities.
A sign on the Navajo Nation in Loupe, Ariz. reads “Protect our elders.”
Tribal members of the Navajo Nation received water, sanitizer, cleaning supplies and food from the University of Arizona Cancer Center drive.
A girl holds a lamb in Tuba City, Ariz. on the Navajo Nation. Her family received supplies from the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s drive, which supplied, sanitizer, paper towels, food, and water.
The rural Navajo Nation has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and several University of Arizona Health Sciences efforts have gathered food, cleaning supplies and medical equipment to support efforts to contain the outbreak in northern Arizona.
The Navajo Nation’s vast landscape includes canyonlands.
Vanessa Jensen, MD, a University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson surgery alumna, with her husband and son in front of their family Hogan in Tuba City, Ariz. on the Navajo Nation.
Vanessa Jensen, MD, graduated from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson in 2003, and completed her general surgery residency in 2009. She stands on her Navajo homestead overlooking the Kerley-Moenkopi Valley, where many of her family members live.
Vanessa Jensen, MD, helps drop off donations for Navajo residents at a community center in Tuba City. The supplies were gathered by University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students who are involved with the Association of Native American Medial students (ANAMS) and the Rural health Professions Program (RHPP).
Vanessa Jensen, MD, stands with volunteers who help distribute supplies at a community center in Tuba City.
Signs and billboards are posted throughout the Navajo Nation asking tribal members to protect their family from COVID-19 by washing their hands and staying home.
Josh Cliffords moves buckets of sanitizer into the Tuba City Regional Health Care. The sanitizer was donated by University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students.
Josh Cliffords carries buckets of sanitizer into a warehouse for Tuba City Regional Health Care. The sanitizer will be distributed to the health center and the community.
Tuba City Regional Health Care nurses and doctors working in a tent set up for COVID-19 testing.
A Tuba City Regional Health Care employee speaks with a person seeking COVID-19 testing.
Tuba City Regional Health Care medical team check the information provided by a person seeking to be tested for the virus that causes COVID-19.
Tuba City Regional Health Care’s Vivian Henderson conducts a COVID-19 test.
One of the challenges in containing the pandemic on the Navajo Nation is the vastness of the land and widespread population.
Laurence Kaibetoney monitors a sweat lodge where family come to meditate and reflect.
Medical workers prepare to begin antibody testing at a clinic in Flagstaff. Front row: UArizona almuna Charlene Clements, Winslow Indian Health care center, alumna April Alvarez-Corona, chief medical officer of North Country Health Care. Middle row: Anne Newland, chief executive officer of North Country Health Care. Back row: Kelly Kendall, Marti Neff, chief operations officer for North Country Health Care.
This antibody testing site in Flagstaff is one of 31 sites in the state. The testing is being done in a partnership between the University of Arizona and the state.
The Little Colorado Medical Center in Winslow is one of 31 antibody testing sites in the state. University of Arizona alum Thomas Greenwood is the chief of staff at the center.
College of Medicine – Tucson student Thomasina Blackwater looks up mask-making instructions while fellow students Nicole Bejany, Guadalupe Davila and Lynn Pham prepare donated supplies for Navajo seamstresses to use to create personal protective equipment.