Yermo's Relief Fund for Navajo Nation
Donation protected
With only a handful of tribally run and Indian Health Service (IHS) hospitals serving an area the size of West Virginia, many are feeling alone on the Navajo/Hopi Nation right now. Front liners in the Navajo/Hopi Nation only have a handful of emergency rooms on the Reservation and are already overwhelmed with people presenting respiratory distress. There are over 160,000 living on the Nation. There are only 28 ventilators on the entire Reservation and as of April 8th, there are 322 confirmed cases and seven deaths, with more confirmed cases than the rest of the other Indian Nations combined.
Doctors and patients are continuously getting exposed to the virus and being quarantined due to a lack of PPE. This puts their health, and the rest of society’s, at grave risk. And while the cloth masks can help, more protective forms of PPE urgently need to be sourced and distributed.
Yermo, and friends of the Navajo/Hopi Nation, near and far, are trying to mobilize and fill the gap in hospitals that are quickly running out of any kind of mask.
To escalate our contribution, we have donated out of pocket to raise over $800. We’ve used the bulk of this money to order face shields and KN95 masks with help from some friends in New England and from Pneuhaus to donate to Navajo Nation healthcare workers. The KN95 mask is a Chinese equivalent of the N95 mask used by healthcare workers here in the states. They are .2% less effective than the N95 but anything will help.
We are stepping up our fundraising through this GoFundMe to immediately purchase more essential PPE for healthcare workers. Our focus is to contribute to IHS or tribally run hospitals but we are also forging connections with healthcare providers in other states (other Indian Nations).
The PPE we will be purchasing includes, for example, KN95 face masks and face shields. Pneuhaus, a Providence, RI-based design and fabrication collective, will be producing shields of their own design to distribute. We've source from Glenda, a Local Navajo Woman from Kaibeto, who has retooled their factory to make PPE garments and working to source domestically where possible.
We would like to hope that the federal government will come through to provide the PPE our frontline healthcare workers and the Navajo/Hopi Nation so urgently require. If they do, and we as a community no longer need to fill this role, we will allocate the remaining funds we raise to other organizations working to support people affected by Covid-19.
Meanwhile, all indications point toward an inability to properly serve this critical community in the next few weeks that may overwhelm our hospitals. Please give now to support our healthcare front liners. Aiding in the protection of tribal elders, is not only our duty to protect elders, the care takers of tradition and heritage, it is an honoring that will have its effect now and for future generations!
Below a text message from local Navajo Doctor.
Friends, our especially vulnerable Elders, Brothers and Sisters on the Navajo Nation Reservation - the size of West Virginia and spanning the borders of AZ, NM, UT, CO - have no running water and limited access to quality education, sanitation, soap, disinfectant and health care due to their remote locations. High rates of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, lung disease and auto-immune disorders place many of the Navajo people (Dine) at high risk and COVID-19 is just getting started making its impact on the poorest and sickest among us.
We need to act and we need to act NOW. Please consider donating to this GoFundMe to help purchase soap, hand sanitizer, water, and materials to help sew PPE for health workers on the reservation.
Doctors and patients are continuously getting exposed to the virus and being quarantined due to a lack of PPE. This puts their health, and the rest of society’s, at grave risk. And while the cloth masks can help, more protective forms of PPE urgently need to be sourced and distributed.
Yermo, and friends of the Navajo/Hopi Nation, near and far, are trying to mobilize and fill the gap in hospitals that are quickly running out of any kind of mask.
To escalate our contribution, we have donated out of pocket to raise over $800. We’ve used the bulk of this money to order face shields and KN95 masks with help from some friends in New England and from Pneuhaus to donate to Navajo Nation healthcare workers. The KN95 mask is a Chinese equivalent of the N95 mask used by healthcare workers here in the states. They are .2% less effective than the N95 but anything will help.
We are stepping up our fundraising through this GoFundMe to immediately purchase more essential PPE for healthcare workers. Our focus is to contribute to IHS or tribally run hospitals but we are also forging connections with healthcare providers in other states (other Indian Nations).
The PPE we will be purchasing includes, for example, KN95 face masks and face shields. Pneuhaus, a Providence, RI-based design and fabrication collective, will be producing shields of their own design to distribute. We've source from Glenda, a Local Navajo Woman from Kaibeto, who has retooled their factory to make PPE garments and working to source domestically where possible.
We would like to hope that the federal government will come through to provide the PPE our frontline healthcare workers and the Navajo/Hopi Nation so urgently require. If they do, and we as a community no longer need to fill this role, we will allocate the remaining funds we raise to other organizations working to support people affected by Covid-19.
Meanwhile, all indications point toward an inability to properly serve this critical community in the next few weeks that may overwhelm our hospitals. Please give now to support our healthcare front liners. Aiding in the protection of tribal elders, is not only our duty to protect elders, the care takers of tradition and heritage, it is an honoring that will have its effect now and for future generations!
Below a text message from local Navajo Doctor.
Friends, our especially vulnerable Elders, Brothers and Sisters on the Navajo Nation Reservation - the size of West Virginia and spanning the borders of AZ, NM, UT, CO - have no running water and limited access to quality education, sanitation, soap, disinfectant and health care due to their remote locations. High rates of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, lung disease and auto-immune disorders place many of the Navajo people (Dine) at high risk and COVID-19 is just getting started making its impact on the poorest and sickest among us.
We need to act and we need to act NOW. Please consider donating to this GoFundMe to help purchase soap, hand sanitizer, water, and materials to help sew PPE for health workers on the reservation.
Fundraising team (4)
Lauren Diane
Organizer
Kanab, UT
Yermo Welsh
Team member
Glenda Bennett
Team member
Melanie Webb
Team member
