Navajo Nation Reservation: Covid-19 Hotspot
The Navajo Nation Reservation resides in the United States and expands from north-eastern Arizona, south-eastern Utah, and north-western New Mexico, which covers 27,000 square miles. According to the Indian Health Service, the Navajo Nation Reservation is the largest Indian Territory Reservation in the United States, which has a population that surpasses 250,000.
The Navajo Nation Government issued a State of Emergency on the 22nd of July due to the alarming increase of over 9,000 people testing positive for the Coronavirus, which was reported by the Navajo Nation Health Department. Because of this increase of Covid-19 cases, the Navajo Nation Reservation has implemented a daily curfew time between 8 pm – 5 am.
Nurse Tayler Oakes, who is assisting in the pandemic in Arizona, said the rise of positive Coronavirus cases largely contributes to the fact that most families who live at the Navajo Nation Reservation consists of 9 -12 family members living under one roof and a Navajo home, which can often look like the home in the image below.
As there are so many family members that live under one roof in these non-spacious homes, this has made Coronavirus circumstances problematic for these families. Furthermore, if one family member tests positive for the virus, he or she has had to largely rely on facility resources, such as the Public Health Nursing facility, in which they have provided resources for the Covid-19 infected patient, so that he or she can recover from the virus.
Nurse Tayler assists in Contact Tracing for the Coronavirus
When Nurse Tayler first arrived at the Public Health Nursing facility of the Navajo Nation Reservation, she was under the impression that she was going to be working in the ER; however, she was assigned to another job – the job of Contact Tracing for the Coronavirus within the Navajo Nation Reservation.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Contact tracing for Covid-19 typically involves:
- Interviewing people with COVID-19 to identify everyone they had close contact with during the time they may have been infectious.
- Notifying contacts of their potential exposure.
- Referring contacts for testing.
- Monitoring contacts for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.
- Connecting contacts with services they might need during the self-quarantine period.
As for Nurse Tayler and her team, she said that they have been doing their best to assist in the pandemic with Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus. She also said, she typically receives phone calls on a regular basis from families who call in to say that a family member has tested positive for Covid-19. Moreover, Nurse Tayler begins questioning the Covid-19 infected patient by asking further questions – “‘who have you come in contact with before testing positive with Covid, who do you live with, and is there any way for you to self-isolate?”
“Our emphasis is to stop the spread of the virus and to provide resources to patients who have been diagnosed with Covid-19.”
-Tayler Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
Nurse Tayler also said, it becomes problematic when there are multi-generational households that have 9-12 family members who live in the same household, which is part of the Navajo Culture. The Public Health Nursing department has provided FEMA Kits to assist these families who are testing positive for the Coronavirus in order to self-isolate.
The FEMA Kits generally include tents, gallons of water, and food; however, it does not include electricity. Nurse Tayler said, by providing these FEMA Kits, it has been helping those who live in multi-generational households to recover from the Coronavirus; however, with limited resources it can make matters extremely uncomfortable for a person who is trying to recover from the virus.
“I can’t imagine being a person who has tested positive for Covid with a 103-degree temperature and living in the desert, but people are doing it.
People are sleeping in cars, barns, and sheds just to keep their families safe, so that they don’t get them sick.”
-Tayler Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
Furthermore, Nurse Tayler also said, “if it is a weak older person that can’t stay outside, we would typically recommend for that family to quarantine together and to ride it out for the designated period. We try to do every possible measure to get people to self-isolate, whether that be to isolate in a bedroom or to provide them with bleach wipes to help keep the household clean and family members safe.”
Video featured below: Nurse Tayler shares her story with me of how she got involved with the NGO (Non-governmental Organization) and how she is assisting in the pandemic. Duration 6:55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6itD_fLXwE&feature=youtu.be
Above image: Provided by Nurse Taylor (taken in Arizona at the Navajo Nation Reservation of the Public Health Nursing building)
Contact Tracing of Covid-19
©Stock image – 1621031059 – By Lightspring
With Covid cases continuing to rise throughout the United States, members of the Public Health Facilities are finding it more important than ever to contain the virus by identifying who has tested positive for the Coronavirus, who they have come in contact with, and making sure those people self-isolate. Nurse Tayler said, Contact Tracing of Covid-19 really has been essential in order to stop the spread of the virus.
“It’s one of those things that you’ll never know if it was successful, but what would have happened had we not done this.”
-Tayler Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
Nurse Tayler said the biggest challenge while doing her job of Contact Tracing for the Coronavirus has been the lack of resources in order to help people who are testing positive for Covid-19.
“We are able to identify problems, but the availability of resources that we need in order to intervene is not always there.
This is a very complex population that has a lot of needs, and we don’t always have a way of fixing those problems.”
– Tayler Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
As the Navajo Nation Reservation is located in such isolated areas, many are without running water and electricity. Therefore, assistance with essential hygiene measures in order to combat against this virus – such as the washing of hands – the Public Health Department has had to intervene by providing hand sanitiser to ensure families are kept safe during this time.
Video featured below: Nurse Tayler shares with me how effective Covid-19 tracing has been and the importance of it. Duration 3:57.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgKDocCNbiw&feature=youtu.be
Above image: Provided by Nurse Taylor (taken in Arizona at the Navajo Nation Reservation)
Nurse Taylor shares aid work experience
Nurse Tayler has done many other forms of aid work as a nurse. She has worked all over the world – from Hurricane Relief efforts in the United States, Refugee Camps in Europe, and other forms of Aid work in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Haiti; however, the aid work she has done at the Navajo Nation Reservation in the US compares differently to the other aid work she has done in the past.
“I do think the Covid pandemic has affected me differently.
I don’t want to say it’s given me a sense of hopelessness, but I do think it’s given me a sense of ‘wow I had no idea what little control we have over this and really what little we can do about it, but what we can do is try our very best to slow it down and to help people who contract the virus’.”
– Tayler Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
Nurse Tayler shares how the Coronavirus has impacted the Navajo Nation Reservation:
“I have talked to people who have lost multiple family members from the same family – MULTIPLE.
That’s a very common thing – multiple family members from the same family have lost multiple family members.”
– Tayler Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
Nurse Tayler said the hardest part about the pandemic has been the fact that many people are not taking the pandemic seriously; for example, she said continues to see people throwing pool parties or people not wearing a face mask in public areas, which is making matters worse for the pandemic.
Featured above: Navajo face masks to purchase
Video featured below: Nurse Taylor shares with me how the pandemic has affected her on a personal level and how it has affected her mental health. Duration 2:01.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEKkS_oULQI&feature=youtu.be
Above image: Nurse Tayler Oakes assisting in the Covid-19 pandemic
Nurse Taylor’s message to the public
As Nurse Tayler assists with Contact Tracing for Covid-19 during the pandemic, she offers a personal message to the public during this distressing time:
“A little compassion goes a long way.
So please – wear your face mask, social distance, avoid large gatherings, and wash your hands.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
We can do this; I know we can.”
– Taylor Oakes, US Nurse conducting Contact Tracing of the Coronavirus at the Navajo Nation Reservation
Video featured below: Nurse Taylor provides a message of instruction to the American people in order to overcome this pandemic. Duration 1:18.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFzo6AKvDFo&feature=youtu.be
Above image: Provided by Nurse Taylor (taken in Arizona at the Navajo Nation Reservation)
