Volunteers help Navajo nation battle COVID-19
Under the watchful eye of Agathla Peak and just south of Monument Valley on the Navajo reservation, the Kayenta Health Center struggled under an onslaught of COVID-19.
The center's only ventilator was in use on a patient in late April and, suddenly, the oxygen valve failed. Dennis Grooms of St. Louis spent the next three hours hand-pumping oxygen into the patient’s lungs until he could be flown to a larger medical facility.
“We had to keep him breathing,” said Grooms, an EMT volunteering with the Los Angeles-based Team Rubicon. The disaster relief organization pairs the skills of military veterans with first responders and medical professionals.
After his shift ended, Grooms walked the 10 minutes back to his housing through empty parking lots and quiet playgrounds carrying his uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a paper bag. He sprayed his shoes with disinfectant, put his clothes into the washing machine and decompressed while soaking in the bathtub.
Still, he was glad to be there: “Almost every day you go back home from here you feel like you did something good.”
Federal officials called on Team Rubicon to help fill positions at Kayenta when much of the staff was unable to go to work. The group is funded by private donations.
Christra McDermont, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, center, talks with other Team Rubicon volunteers Doctor Stan Chartoff, with the U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford, Conn., left, and EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., in a patient waiting area at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon Volunteers Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, left, nurse Cindy Robison, a U.S. Air Force veteran from Colorado Springs, Colo., and EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., prepare to see a coronavirus patient in the emergency room fo the Kayenta Health Center in Kayenta, Ariz., April 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteer, EMT Hannah Tellier, holds a COVID-19 test in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteers work with local medical staff in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteers, from left, Dennis Grooms, an EMT, Cindy Robison, a U.S. Air Force veteran and nurse and Christra McDermont, a U.S. Navy veteran and operation section chief, gather in the emergency room during a lull at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scott Nargis, a U.S. Army veteran and Team Rubicon incident commander, left, and Christra McDermont, a U.S. Navy veteran and Team Rubicon operation section chief, enter the emergency department at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteer Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, wipes his face shield with a sanitary wipe after seeing a patient in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Agathla Peak is seen in the distance from the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteer EMT Hannah Tellier from Boston, left, and a member of the Kayenta Health Center staff prepare to practice with a new intubation shield that just arrived to help protect medical workers when they intubate patients, in Kayenta, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation, April 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteers EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., and Doctor Stan Chartoff, with the U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford Conn., stand outside the emergency room at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Team Rubicon volunteer nurse Cindy Robison, left, and Dennis Grooms, an EMT, center work with the only ventilator and Christra McDermont, counts face masks in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scott Nargis, a U.S. Army veteran and incident commander with Team Rubicon, works in his housing at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
A sign advising of closure due to the COVID-19 stands at Monument Valley Utah and Ariz., April 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)