Photo By Staff Sgt. Ryan Getsie | Tech. Sgt. Jerzy Horst (left) holds a biohazard bag open for a Soldier who collected a...... read more read more
DUCKWATER: Nevada Guardsmen traveled north last week to assist the Shoshone Health District with COVID-19 community-based collections, Wednesday, July 1, 2020 in Duckwater, Nevada.
The Shoshone are a Native American Tribe found in eastern Nevada. Their people have a long and rich history in America and are also known to be a part of the Great Basin American Indians. At one point in history, the Shoshone Tribes could be found stretching from central Wyoming to Texas, into California and up into parts of Canada. Although not known for their jewelry, Shoshone artists are famous for their beautiful beadwork, paintings, hides, and woven baskets.
Task Force Medical, 221, and 17 combined their efforts to assist Shoshone healthcare partners in the fight against this virus. The total number tested for the day was 102. This included over 80% of the active older adult population and 57% of all residents in Duckwater, according to SHD reports.
Staff Sgt. Keith Linford with the 17th discussed his take on the amount of people tested within the timeframe. “We tested over a hundred people in just four hours. I think that’s the largest number compared to all the other rural communities so far.”
Brenda O’Neil works as the health manager for the Duckwater Shoshone Tribal Health Clinic. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a degree in education before her path lead her back home.
O’Neil discussed some of the challenges her people faced during the past few months as this pandemic spread throughout the country.
“Anytime we leave the reservation the closest store for supplies is 77 miles away. Some of those stores were out of basic necessities like bread, flour, sugar, and toilet paper. We had to sometimes travel further to cities like Las Vegas or Reno; that would expose us more to the virus.” She said.
Having to travel hundreds of miles for testing was also a major hurdle for Tribe members. The closest hospital with any type of specialty care is in Ely, Nevada. There’s the cost of transportation, rooms, meals, and any other incidentals. O’Neil explained that personnel and scheduling, along with the logistical requirements, need to be taken into account when planning medical trips off of tribal land.
“The majority here are Elders and they make up about 60% of our population. We didn’t want them leaving the reservation and possibly exposing them to Coronavirus.” O’Neil elaborated.
SHD also put out information so that neighboring communities could be screened as well, regardless if they were a part of the Shoshone Tribe or not.
“We’ve invited and opened up the community-based testing to some of the ranches down here and Railroad Valley.” She explained.
O’Neil stressed the importance of testing. “Whether it’s negative or positive, it’s important information to know so we have a baseline to work with. If they’re positive, who have they been in contact with? We can then contact those people to keep our community safe.”
Cpl. Nathaniel Clark with 221 mentioned how thankful the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe was that the Guard was helping. “All the people here are really nice and everyone I talked to were very kind and appreciative.”
“Again, I want to say how thankful we are the Guard was able to come out and test the majority of our population.” O’Neil said. “A huge thanks to the Nevada Guard!”
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2020 18:53 |
| Story ID: | 373445 |
| Location: | DUCKWATER, NV, US |
| Web Views: | 425 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Nevada Guard helps Shoshone Tribe in fight against COVID-19, by SSG Ryan Getsie, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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