{"id":5384,"date":"2020-12-04T13:45:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T18:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=5384"},"modified":"2020-12-04T13:46:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T18:46:41","slug":"cronkite-news-navajo-nation-in-major-health-care-crisis-with-surge-in-covid-19-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/12\/04\/cronkite-news-navajo-nation-in-major-health-care-crisis-with-surge-in-covid-19-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Navajo Nation in ‘major health care crisis’ with surge in COVID-19 cases"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tMAJOR HEALTH CARE CRISIS ON THE NAVAJO NATION 12.03.20\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, Vice President Myron Lizer, Department of Health Director Dr. Jill Jim, and representatives and doctors from 638 hospit…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Navajo Nation Office of President and Vice President:\r\nMajor Health Care Crisis on the Navajo Nation – December 3, 2020<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Navajo warn hospitals at \u2018breaking point\u2019 in worsening COVID-19 surge<\/div>\r\n
Friday, December 4, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By Calah Schlabach<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON – With a shortage of beds, oxygen and staff, the Navajo Nation can no longer depend on regional aid and is sending critical patients farther afield for care, officials reported Thursday.

<\/P>\r\nThat news came as area health care workers and Navajo government officials warned that the coming surge in COVID-19 cases would be worse than the first, when the tribe recorded some of the highest infection and death rates in the country.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“It’s gotten to the point where our facilities are deeply challenged and getting to the point of being overwhelmed,” said Dr. Jonathan Iralu, a national and area infectious disease consultant for the Indian Health Service.

<\/P>\r\n“Our hospital beds are full, and when we try to send persons to other hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona \u2026 they are essentially 100% full,” said Iralu, who works at the Gallup Indian Medical Center.

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\u201cWe have been in a state of emergency since the pandemic began here on the Navajo Nation, but that has now elevated to a major health care crisis,\u201d President Jonathan Nez said as #COVID19 cases keep rising. #Arizona #NewMexico #Utah @NNPrezNez @NNVP_Lizer https:\/\/t.co\/FC29KlQEMJ<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nHis comments came during a wide-ranging \r\ntwo-hour update<\/a>\r\nduring which tribal officials said they are extending a reservation-wide lockdown for another three weeks and are seeking a disaster declaration from the federal government.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nNavajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said the tribe has also expanded the number of alternative care centers, where people who test positive can “hunker down” and wait out their quarantine period, rather than go home and risk infecting family members. He said the seven alternative care centers will help keep hospital beds open for more serious cases.

<\/P>\r\nDr. Eric Ritchie, chief medical officer at the IHS hospital in Chinle, said Navajo hospitals “are reaching a breaking point and a point of crisis \u2026 both for COVID and for non-COVID care.”

<\/P>\r\nHe and others said that the main difference between this surge and the spring is that when reservation and border community hospitals ran out of beds then, they could easily transfer patients to hospitals in Albuquerque or the Valley. But those hospitals are now facing their own COVID-19 crises.

<\/P>\r\nThat has put a strain on all medical services for Navajo. Ritchie said a patient recently came to the Chinle hospital in a coma for a non-COVID issue, and it took the staff 24 hours to find a hospital that could accept the patient for the specialized care they needed.

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