{"id":15774,"date":"2021-09-08T10:42:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T14:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=15774"},"modified":"2021-09-08T12:07:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:07:01","slug":"underscore-news-umatilla-covid19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/09\/08\/underscore-news-umatilla-covid19\/","title":{"rendered":"Underscore.news: Umatilla Reservation family loses two to COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Michael<\/a>
Michael Gavin, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, died of COVID on August 7. Photo courtesy of the Gavin family \/ Underscore.news<\/figcaption>\r\n\r\n
The Son and Brother They Could Not Save<\/div>\r\n
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation tried early and often to protect its members from COVID-19, but in this case, to no avail. <\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, September 8, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Wil Phinney<\/div>\r\n
Underscore.news<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNear herculean efforts by tribal government to contain the spread of COVID-19<\/a> weren\u2019t enough to save Michael Gavin, a 39-year-old member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation<\/a>, who died August 7, some 17 months after the Tribes initially declared a state of emergency. Gavin was the second CTUIR member to die of COVID-19. His uncle was the first. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nMichael was a son, a brother, and an uncle to the Gavin family, which included his mother, Shawna, a member of the CTUIR Health Commission, and his sister, Jill-Marie Gavin-Harvey, one of nine members of the Tribes\u2019 board of trustees, the policy-making panel for the confederacy of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nGavin was an evangelical Christian and youth pastor at a Pentecostal church, and he followed the Washat \u201cseven-drum\u201d Longhouse religion. He also was a former gang member who, even after he left that lifestyle, counseled other gang members from around the world.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nHe was not vaccinated, despite the urging of his family and his Tribe. He died at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla two weeks after his admittance to the ICU.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNow, Shawna wants people to know her son would likely be alive today if he had taken advantage of the readily available vaccine. \u201cWe encouraged him. I wish he had been vaccinated. That\u2019s my message.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

This week, the CTUIR Board of Trustees approved an Order mandating all employees of Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center, the Umatilla Tribal Fire Department, the Education Department and all COVID-19 screeners to become fully vaccinated by September 30, 2021. pic.twitter.com\/F01Uw7XeyS<\/a><\/p>— Umatilla Confederated Tribes (@1855CTUIR) September 1, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>