#LatinasOnTheFrontlines: Nurse Violeta Pantaleon at the frontline of COVID-19 in the Navajo Nation
As COVID-19 continues to take a toll on the lives of people across the U.S., many Latinas are servicing their communities as frontline healthcare workers. One such Latina is HOPE Leadership Institute (HLI) 2009 alumna, Violeta Pantaleon — a nurse with the Indian Health Service working in the Navajo Nation for the Shiprock Services in New Mexico.
The Navajo Nation is the largest U.S. Native American reservation, in both population and size, covering about 27,000 square miles across Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. It consists of more than 298,000 members — about one-third of which reside in New Mexico. COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted the Navajo nation, exacerbating existing health disparities, and burdening their already fragile health infrastructure.
With a severe need for resources and support, efforts to flatten the curve have relied on volunteers, the strength and resilience of the community, and health workers like Violeta, who have adapted their role as frontline workers to meet the need of their patients.
We connected with the Violeta on the incredible work she is doing, read on to learn more.
HOPE: Can you describe some of the work you are doing and how your role has changed because of the pandemic?
Violeta: I am a nurse with the Indian Health Service and I work in Navajo Nation for the Shiprock Services (on the New Mexico site). I work inpatient where we see pediatric and adult patients.
Since the pandemic, my role as a nurse has changed. We now wear an invisible cape.
Many people see us as heroes, but we are doing the work we are trained to do — which is taking care of people and saving lives.
For many months, following a very hard flu season in Navajo Nation and New Mexico, we were seeing many sick patients with and without COVID-19. The worse is seeing elderly and patients who are not able to see their loved ones while hospitalized. We are now slowly re-opening clinics with precautions in place. Navajo Nation has been on lockdown with a Shelter-in-Place order to help maintain the safety of the Navajo communities and populations for months.
What has changed the most about my job is that we focus more responsibility, accountability, and teamwork to make sure that our patients, staff, and community stay safe. Gone are the days of saying, “this is my job and that is your job”. We are wearing multiple hats, adapting, and expanding our roles to other areas to increase capacity.
There are many organizations volunteering in Navajo Nation and at my hospital it has made a tremendous impact and allowed us to reach others (people who are not able to make it to the hospital or isolating) in many other ways that also affect their health — giving out water, food, and masks to elders and others who are not able to travel. We are so grateful for the volunteers from many places; including Navajo Nation, Samaritan’s Purse, Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, Brigham And Women’s Hospital critical care nurses, Doctors Without Borders, and Mark Jones of Farmington, NM who has made efforts to collect food and supplies for people who are quarantined.
HOPE: What advice can you give to people that want to get involved in the effort?
Violeta: We learned that we are going to be in it for the long run and we need to support resiliency and one another. As we prepare for another flu season among the COVID-19 pandemic, please think about others who may need to fight harder to survive! Please wear a mask and follow the guidelines recommended by your city or town.
On top of her role at work, Violeta has also been supporting her wife, Marie J. Nickoli, who is Ms. Indigenous San Juan College.
Marie has been working on several community projects including the creation and distribution of a free Indigenous Coloring Book to children for free, donations of clothes, and school clothing to Native elders and children in boarding school.
Thank you, Violeta for your outstanding service and for all you are doing to support our most impacted and vulnerable communities during these times.
For those who want to volunteer in Navajo Nation, please visit www.navajo-nsn.gov.
To make a donation visit https://pueblorelieffund.org.